


Debts

by BeaDeM0



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Can they handle being with each other?, Desire, Don't mess with a criminal, Emotional Baggage, F/M, Romance, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 14:17:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16894203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeaDeM0/pseuds/BeaDeM0
Summary: Four months after Rio's arrest, Beth & the girls are working off their debt to him but Beth is miserable & Rio is moody af.But then something happens to flip things between them...





	1. Faded Fire

She had pointed the gun at Rio for what could only have been a minute, trying to think what to do, trying to work out how it came to that? Where had she gone wrong in her decision making so that she was standing pointing a gun at him? The reluctant mentor who had used her as a pawn and sacked her when she lost her temper. And she never lost her temper, he’d managed to push buttons she didn’t know she had. That was her failing. 

And his failing was being so arrogant. Did he really think that she would wait to be ‘handled’ by him or his boys? Hadn’t she shown him over and over again that she thought on her feet, that she acted, she didn’t just sit and wait?

But that didn't matter anymore. They’d both made their choices which had led to his gun weighing heavy in her hands. The low light of her lamp had glinted off the shining metal as she put it down on the table. She knew she couldn't kill Rio, or the broken shell of Dean. 

Rio had prowled over to her, taking his gun back, grabbing her arm roughly, taking her outside, telling her drive him. He’d ordered ‘car-man’ not to do anything stupid so nothing stupid would happen to his wife. He'd spat the word wife out. And nothing had happened to her. Apart from a major guilt trip. 

Rio had her drive to a specialist care unit in a medical facility where his mother lived, she was comatose and was receiving around the clock care which Rio paid thousands each week for. Rio explained his mothers medical insurance hadn’t covered her continued care after she’d had a second stroke, it was a clause in the insurance that his mother hadn’t spotted.

Rio’s sister, Rosario, had turned up in the room, dropping by to see their mom having just finished her shift as a paediatric doctor. When they left they left the hospital, Rio told Beth that Rosario worked part time so she could volunteer at a local clinic. She was an all round good person, the opposite of Rio. They were tight but clashed. Rosario had looked at Rio, narrowing her eyes coldly, Beth saw their family resemblance. 

“I saw you on the news Rio. It would kill Mama if she knew what you had become.” She shook her head at him. “Couldn't you have least cleaned up your face before you came here?”

Beth had swallowed hard. She had wiped the mascara trails off her face before stepping out of the minivan but hadn’t thought about telling Rio to clean up, though when she’d tried to speak he’d cut her off.

“Rosario, it’s been a real long day an’ a real long week. Do you think we can go over this some other time?” 

Rosario had nodded, before bursting into tears and she hugged him tightly, whispering to him low and quiet so Beth couldn't hear but she heard Rio say: ‘I’m okay, it’s okay’ over and over to Rosario. Beth had looked at the floor, feeling ashamed. 

Yes, Rio was a criminal, a serious criminal but he also had responsibilities and Beth hadn't once thought about that. He’d always been 2D to her. And now she knew that he a family to look after. When Rosario pulled away from Rio, she smiled so warmly at Beth and introduced herself, clasping Beth’s hands. Beth had almost burst into tears but she didn’t as Rio gave her a stern look, so she smiled and squeezed Rosario’s hands instead.

On the drive back Rio told Beth about Mr Cisco supporting his sisters family, about Bullet having two little girls, about Rio constantly helping his cousins out. He didn’t say it but Beth understood it: Rio going down would have spelt trouble for everyone.

Beth had stayed quiet, she just listened to him when he spoke and looked at him when they waited at the stop lights. He had her undivided attention, like he always had, only this time, she didn’t chat back. When Rio got out of the minivan, after telling her to stop at a cool and edgy neighbourhood, he told her she would never not owe him now. That she was indebted to him and that she and her ‘bitches’ would have to buy their freedom back. He'd then shut the van door, stalking off to a slightly shabby looking doorway, disappearing in the building. 

Beth looked at the building he’d entered, it was understated, plain and kind of industrial on the end of row of similar buildings and it had three floors. She noticed the lights come on on the top floor. What she could see of it looked like an open space warehouse, high beamed ceilings, exposed brickwork and industrial lights. Beth realised that maybe Rio lived there and she looked away, starting the van up, driving home exhausted.

But that was four months ago and Beth tried not to think about it.

Since then, she Ruby and Annie had worked long hours for Rio, getting cash cleaned via a smaller secret shopper operation, doing pick ups and boarder crossings, holding boxes of goodness knows what whilst being paid their 12.5% cut. Beth was investing and saving as much as she could in a honey pot so that when she could walk away, when Rio would let them walk away, they would never have to do anything stupid again to survive. 

Neither Ruby nor Annie had been best pleased when Beth told them they were working for Rio indefinitely. Ruby had freaked out about what she was going to tell Stan but Beth came up trumps again. When asked the ladies said they were moonlighting for a health and safety inspectors office and did spot checks on companies. It meant they could get away with weird hours and copious car milage. Beth had even registered a company that could legitimately pay them. 

They worked hard although Rio paid no attention to it. He wasn’t present at the drop offs or pick ups for a month whilst things settled, but he reappeared one day although he no longer acknowledged Beth. After several awkward weeks of meeting Rio with either Bullet or Mr Cisco by his side, Beth avoided going to one of her scheduled drop offs, swapping it with Annie but she learnt not to swap again. 

Rio appeared at her house after the drop off, his gun in his hand. He’d prowled up to her in her kitchen, trying to back her into a corner but she stood her ground. He asked her what made her think she could shirk her responsibilities? Giving him the cash and taking it from him was her responsibility. She opened her mouth to speak, but the look in his eyes was so cold, just like the night at the warehouse when he had called her a charity case, that she remained silent.

It was the only time he had looked her in the eyes since the night he had beaten up Dean. He left her after his stern rebuke, knowing he’d intimidated her enough and he continued to ignore her at the rest of their meetings. 

Beth was tired of it all now. 

Dean had moved out, she was paying all her bills, but the spark and thrill had gone from what she was doing. She was no longer in charge of her own little empire, she wasn't a boss, she was a grunt person, doing whatever the uncommunicative Rio bid.

She realised too late that part of the energy bomb she got out of working for Rio had been their interactions. It had ignited a part of her personality that she had, until then, denied to herself. Now that was done, she felt the spark within fizzling out again. She was fading and she only had herself to blame.

But she didn’t have time to dwell on that. Ruby had dropped by that afternoon to give Beth the cleaned cash and four large boxes of who knew what. She couldn’t store them at home in case Stan, who had made it clear that divorce would be the consequence of Ruby doing anything else ‘shady’ had found them. Ruby had helped put the boxes in Beth’s car, then they sat down at Beth’s kitchen island with a tea.

“You’re a lifesaver, I mean who for real does a health and safety inspection of a seven-eleven at nine in the evening?”

Beth nodded in agreement. “I know, but this can’t be forever, we just need to keep our heads down for a little longer.”

Ruby sighed. “But how much longer? I’m so scared I’m going to mess up one of these days.”

“You won’t, we’re smart, we all cover our tracks. And we’re here for each other, we just need to continue to be smart.”

Ruby shook her head. “Not that smart, I mean we’re indebted to a damn punk-ass gangbanger.”

Beth nodded and took a sip of her tea. Ruby was right, she couldn't argue. Damn Rio. Thank goodness tonight she was just dropping off to Mr Cisco at a different warehouse that night.

“Is our overlord still giving you the cold shoulder?” 

Beth frowned at Ruby. “Hmm?”

“You know you were his favourite and now you’re his nemesis. I guess he follows the gang rules of keeping friends close and enemies closer.”

“We weren’t exactly close-close, but you’re right, he just ignores me. I just figure that when he next flips his game, we’ll be signed off his contractor list. I mean, he doesn’t trust us, he’s not going keep us on to help out with his next career move.”

Ruby looked thoughtful and then managed a smile. “Girl, I hadn’t thought about it like that, and man, with the money he’s clearing, he might want to move on soon.”

Beth nodded but noticed that she had to force her smile. 

It was summer and the nights were lighter so Beth felt relaxed as she drove to the new location, the boxes on the middle of the minivan and the cash in a bag by her feet. She’d written down the address of the place on the back of an envelope and looked at it again as she pulled up near one of four warehouses, the first of which had a black SUV parked badly outside it. As she passed it, she saw tire marks on the road, signalling sudden breaking.

Beth swallowed. Something was off, but she drove on, slowly passing the car, wondering if she should turn around. She pulled up to the second warehouse, grabbing her purse, deciding to leave the goods in the minivan until she found Mr Cisco. She’d only taken two steps when a side door to the warehouse jolted opened. Beth stood still as Rio appeared, supporting Mr Cisco who was grimacing in pain. Rio spotted her straight away.

“Elizabeth, get the fuck out of here.”

“What?” 

Rio was trying to walk fast towards the SUV but it was hard going as he was supporting the weight of Mr Cisco. “No time to explain, get out of here, I can’t look after you an’ him.”

It was clear Mr Cisco had been shot and Beth could hear noises coming from the warehouse. Heavy steps. Loud steps. Running. She spoke rapidly at Rio.

“Get in my car, in the middle. Your boxes are there, and there’s a blanket. Lie Mr Cisco down, I’ll take you were you need to go.”

Rio paused for a moment. “The people about to come out after us ain’t friendly.”

“Neither are you! Hurry up and get in!” Beth opened the middle door of the minivan and Rio made a face but moved quickly towards it, helping the pale and groaning Mr Cisco into it. 

The metal door of the warehouse started to crank up and Rio looked at Beth. They both knew Beth wouldn't be able to drive away fast enough without them being shot.

Beth spoke quickly. “Get in, hide him, hide yourself, I’ll deal with it.”

“Elizabeth.”

“Cover me just in case, I’ll say I’m lost.”

Beth shut the van door before he could respond and she grabbed the envelope she had dropped in her purse, holding it out as she took tentative steps towards to warehouse. The metal door was up far enough for Beth to see seven guys step out, each more intimidating than the other. She froze in her tracks. What the actual fuck was she doing? 

“Hi, erm, do you guys work for ‘Craft Crazy’? I can’t tell which warehouse is which, and I need to deliver my samples.” Beth held her envelope up again, looking at it and frowning, doing her best ditzy mom impression. “I’m not even sure I took the right turning back there.”

The guys looked at her and looked around as she looked back up at them, guileless, trying to keep breathing normally. She’d worn a cotton wrap dress in dark green that was both concealing and revealing, matched with dainty kitten heels, her hair was softly waved and her make up peachy for the summer heat. She looked suburban, approachable and non-threatening although her heart was pounding in her chest with adrenaline.

The gangbangers remained silent, but one guy stepped forward, walking towards her, he put his gun in the back of his jeans and stared at Beth silently, looking at her minivan, clocking the boxes inside and then his eyes moved back to hers as he spoke.

“This ain’t the right warehouse. You better go, lady.” 

Beth looked at him and took a glance at his men, they all had guns. She looked back at the man, making eye contact as her eyes widened and she swallowed, letting him that she had just realised that she really should not be there.

“Yes, yes, please, excuse me.” She turned to go but the man spoke again.

“Did ya see two men leave, jus’ now?”

Beth turned back to the man. 

“Er, I, I think there was someone heading to the warehouse on the left when I pulled up.”

“Okay, get on your way.” 

Beth nodded, needing no further encouragement, she turned from the man, walking back to her minivan and stepping in. She started the engine, driving quickly, aware that two of the guys were staring at her as she drove off whilst the rest of the guys moved towards the other warehouse. She looked at Rio in the mirror, he was leaning over Mr Cisco. He looked up and caught her eye in the mirror. 

“Keep driving, keep calm, don’t speed up too much just yet but take a left on the main road an’ then move it, yeh? We don’t want ‘em following us.”

When they got to the end of the road Beth hit the accelerator hard, looking back in her mirror. No one was following her so she looked at Rio.

“How is he?”

“Bleedin’, we need to get him to my man near where my main warehouse is. You know how to get there from here?”

“Yes. Use the blanket to press on the wound and hold it down tight, or maybe tie it down with your belt? You’ve got to keep the pressure on to slow the blood flow.”

“I know Mama, but my belt won’t go round him.” 

Beth stayed silent after that and tried to focus on the road. The journey took 25 minutes but felt like forever, Beth constantly looking back at Rio and Mr Cisco, who kept slipping out of consciousness, although Rio was speaking to him, trying to keep him alert.

Rio gave Beth directions and she pulled up to a building that turned out to be a vets with an underground car park that had an access code. Beth drove down into the lower level as smoothly as she could, parking up before hurrying to open the van door for Rio. She then took one side of Mr Cisco as Rio took the other and they walked him to double glass doors, where a man in green scrubs stood, waiting for them.

“Come on through, you know where the room is.” 

Beth and Rio managed to get Mr Cisco into the room and laid him out on a stainless steel table. The man in green scrubs motioned for them to back off and he quickly got to work, cutting away Mr Cisco’s t-shirt, swabbing the wound on his shoulder to check for an exit path. There wasn’t one, so he administered a shot of painkiller to Mr Cisco and sent Rio and Beth out into the hallway.

They both stood there looking at one another in shock. Rio’s eyes were bright, he was paler than usual and his hands and arms were covered in blood but his dark t-shirt and jeans hid any stains. Beth looked at her own hands which were bloody and her dress was stained too.

“Come on,” Rio spoke at her, so she looked up at him. “There’s a restroom down the hall, we can clean up.”

Beth followed Rio absentmindedly, she was starting to feel dazed, and only tuned in when she realised she was standing by him in a bathroom with a faucet running. He let the water run over his hands, his forearms and biceps, following with the liquid soap, making sure he’d cleaned off all the blood before he turned to Beth. He took her hands and put them under the warm water and then tenderly and thoroughly washed all the blood from her skin. He turned the faucet off and grabbed some paper towels, drying her arms before drying his own.

Beth stood unmoving, not quite feeling like she was in her body, but she was aware of Rio being gentle with her, holding her softly, taking care to clean her, feeling the heat of his body, solid and lean next to hers.

“You’re cold Mama, we need to get you a tea, you're probably in shock.”

Beth shook her head. “I, I think I’m okay.”

Rio just took her hand, leading her out of the restroom, walking her down two corridors to a room that said staff only. He walked in, still holding Beth’s hand and led her to a hot drinks machine. He got them both tea, rejecting sugar for agave syrup which he stirred into the liquid. Some part of her rolled her eyes at that but she took the cup from him.

She looked at him as he looked at her.

“Drink Mama.”

Beth opened her mouth but closed it again. 

“You wanna ask a question.”

Beth shrugged. “Will he be okay?”

Rio sighed. “It’s a shoulder wound, I hope so.”

“What was that about?”

“I ain’t gonna go into that now.”

Beth nodded and broke their eye contact, sipping some of her tea before walking to the table, putting it down she then turned back to Rio, who was staring at her. 

He was still pale and looked tired and Beth realised that he too was in shock, functioning on autopilot. The person lying on the table in the other room was not just a colleague, he was one of Rio’s boys. Maybe even a friend? 

Acting on instincts, Beth took the three steps back to Rio and took his tea from him, putting it on the table behind her, then slowly she moved her hands to his hard and lean sides, feeling his ribs as her hands traced around his t-shirt, still damp with blood and sweat. When her hands were on his back, she moved her body against his, pressing her face into his shoulder. 

He stayed still, so still, but after a few seconds, he slipped his arms around her, holding her impossibly tight against him. He rested his cheek on the top of her head, slipping a hand up to hold the back of her neck. They stayed tight together, holding each other up, silently comforting and supporting until Rio eventually pulled back a little, his hands cupping Beth’s jawline as his eyes looked deeply into hers.

He pressed a kiss firmly on her forehead and looked back into her eyes. She blinked once and then he did something that neither of them expected. He kissed her lips, softly, tenderly, his four days worth of stubble scratching her at chin, his clipped moustache ticking her upper lip. Instead of pulling away as a sensible person would, Beth opened her mouth to him, feeling his tongue firmly stroke her own over and over again. And just like that, something in her brain switched on again, every part of her body tingled. Everything inside her came alive. His perfect hot mouth on hers, his hard body against hers, it was total fire. 

But just as he had unexpectedly started the kiss, he unexpectedly pulled back and gently let her go. He got their tea from the table, handing Beth’s cup to her before she could process what had happened. She took a sip before speaking.

“Should we, should we check on Mr Cisco? Or should we call his sister?”

“Nah, the Dr knows I’m in here, an’ best not to call Shelly yet. I’m gonna stay put, wait for him an’ sort a ride back. You should head home, to your family. Are your kids with your husband?”

“No, they’re home. I got a sitter. I kicked Dean out again, after, that night. I’m divorcing him.” Beth didn’t know why she told him that. Why would it matter to him?

Rio was silent for a moment before he spoke. “Well, you’d better get back to ‘em. Listen, the mess in your car, it’ll need to be cleaned, hit me up for the bill. An’ I’ll be in touch about the cash and boxes. Keep ‘em safe yeh, don’t be driving around with ‘em an’ don’t let your kids at ‘em, either.”

Beth nodded and then he took her tea off her and took her hand as he walked her to her car.

She asked him before getting in. “Will you let me know how he is?”

Rio’s lip slightly curved. 

“Yeh. Drive safely Elizabeth.” He looked at her and nodded before shutting the car door for her.

Beth drove in a daze, her mind recalling the armed gang, the wounded Mr Cisco and Rio. Oh, Rio. She had used Ruby’s bag of cash to conceal the blood on her dress when she paid the babysitter and then she then dragged the boxes into her garage. She threw a fresh blanket on the minivan floor to cover the blood stains that she’d deal with another day at the car wash, and then she put the blood soaked blanket and dress to soak in cold water overnight.

When she was done she stood under a hot shower until her skin wrinkled and she eventually collapsed into bed. All she could think about was the feel of Rio’s soft and warm lips on her own. How tender he had been, how his tongue had probed her own, pressing deeply. How his eyes were closed. How he’d said nothing about it. 

It had set something alight inside her and she wanted more. Only she couldn’t have it. She shouldn't want it. As she closed her eyes, troubled by her desire, her cell buzzed on her beside table.

She picked it up and read the message from Rio:

‘He’s good, am taking him home. Thank you for everything today. I mean it. Thank you.’

And then:

‘Oh & Elizabeth, get some sleep. We talk tomorrow.’

Beth held the cell to her chest and breathed out heavily, fearing what he wanted to talk about. What if he was going to cancel her debt to him, because she’d just helped him escape whatever that was. But cancelling the debt would mean no more Rio. No contact. He would be done with them. He would be done with her. Only Beth didn’t want him to be done with her. 

She finally realised that it hadn't all just been about the money or the power, it was about him, she had wanted him. And she still did.


	2. Stoking flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rio & Beth decide to be a little more open with each other...

It was just after one in the afternoon and Beth had put a small pot of coffee on. She had taken her kids to school, returned $5k worth of electronics, done three loads of laundry and cleaned and tidied what needing seeing to in the house. She needed the distraction of housework to stop her from thinking of Rio or bleeding Mr Cisco or the seven armed gangbangers that she had played dumb in-front of. 

She had had a fretful nights sleep, going through a range of emotions as she thought of what had happened over and over, because after the adrenaline high that came from escaping an armed gang had completely disappeared, and when she wasn’t focusing so much on Rio holding her so tightly and leaning into her, kissing her deeply, his skilled tongue tango-ing with hers with just the right amount of pressure, I mean who in the world kissed that perfectly for the first time, she realised more and more how stupid and irresponsible she had been. 

What if she had been shot? And killed? What would happen to her kids? Dean, who had moved back in with his mother, could in no way cope, Beth was the glue that held everything in her family together and the one who supported Annie and Ruby. Jail for 5-15 years was one thing but death was the end.

She had acted purely on instinct but maybe that really hadn’t been such a smart move. She had been lucky. What if the gangbanger had stepped closer and seen into the car? Would she had survived a crossfire? It made her feel nauseous. She kept on reminding herself that that hadn’t happened, that she aced it. Like she always did, because lying was her superpower. 

Yet she kept on hearing Rio’s words in her head from the cafe months ago ‘you ain’t no boss’ and she knew that he was right. She wasn’t a boss. She couldn't do that again. She couldn't risk it. She had to stop this, she had to get out.

But getting out meant no Rio. 

Rio with his eyes darker than the night skies that she could get lost in, with his panthers walk, with his street language and razor sharp intellect, with his hoodies and button up combination, with his kitchen countertop knowledge, his liking for real newspapers over online articles, his calm patience and his cold impatience and the lip curl that he used when he was trying not to show his smile. Like the one he had given her last night after four months of lack. Rio with soft smooth lips, and a mouth that tasted of warmth and promise, his body full of lean, muscular power pressing on her soft and full curves.

Beth shook her head trying to shake those thoughts out of her head as she waited for the coffee to finish brewing, her mug in her hands. She really had to sort herself out because at the moment, her head was all over the place. She had to police her thoughts and her desire.

“Gotta mug for me?”

She jumped at Rio’s voice but took a breath and turned to face him. He was dressed in a dark maroon v-neck t-shirt with sunglasses folded in the v and he wore his usual dark jeans. His body shape was easier to see in his summer clothes and he looked like an athlete, all tightly corded muscles. He hadn’t shaved since the night before and his face was expressionless but as he walked closer to her, Beth could see the tiredness etched in his eyes. Tiredness and something else, something she felt as he approached her: heat. 

“Sure, choose one you want.” She gestured her head in the direction of the cupboard he needed and he pulled one out, choosing one that said ‘B’. Beth took it off him, looking at him questioningly and he shrugged.

“B for boss.”

Beth rolled her eyes but turned to pour the coffee into his mug, handing it to him before pouring her own. She turned back to face him, he was leaning against the island so she leant against her countertop. They observed each other for a moment and he tilted his head to one side.

“You sleep much?”

“Not really, you?”

“A little between four an’ eight. I had things to handle till then an’ again first thing.”

Beth swallowed. “Like those men? What was that?”

He tilted his head to one side, considering what to say to her. “I spoke to who they’re connected to. They ain’t gonna be bothering me or my boys again, that’s for sure. So you don’t need to worry ‘bout nothing neither.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“What do you think it means?”

Beth breathed out a sigh, breaking their eye contact as she took a slow sip of her coffee. She wasn’t sure she wanted the real answer. “You were right you know.”

“Usually am.” 

Beth looked back up at him, his lip was curled his eyes shining with amusement, he was provoking her of course.

“So what was I right about this time?”

“About me not being good enough to be a boss. You said it in the cafe when I tried to sell you the botox. You said I don’t have balls, that night, here, four month back.”

He exhaled loudly then and looked at her with curiosity. She remembered all of their conversations. She presumed he didn't but his slight shift in body posture told her he recalled them too. He told her in the cafe to get her house in order and said she had a lily ass. He was right. Literally and metaphorically.

He tilted his head to one side. “So, you only jus’ worked that out?”

“I can run boarders with product, I can come up with creative ideas to clean cash in an easier and more legitimate way, I can set up legitimate businesses to handle the real laundering business, but shooting people, physically harming people, that’s not something that comes naturally to me.”

Rio licked his bottom lip and was silent for a moment before he spoke. “You have to learn that, anaesthetise yo’self to it. It don’t come natural, unless you’re a psychopath an’ then it ain’t ‘bout the business. But you wrong, ‘bout a few things.”

“Like what?”

“The way you handled things last night. You took on a crew of seven with guns in nothin’ but your mom outfit, an’ your sugar ain’t sweeter self talked us outta a whole load o’shit. There would a’bin plenty of gunfire, if it weren’t for you. You helped me get my boy out of there an’ fixed up an’ with no drama. An’ I know you love drama.”

Beth cut in. “I do not love drama.”

“Yeh, we have a difference of opinion ‘bout that.”

Beth pursed her lips, realising that Rio had just praised her. It had been a long time since he had, and it suddenly felt like the sun had come out and was shining just on her, heating her from the inside out.

“You ain’t ready to be a boss ‘cos you ain’t ready to do certain things, you don’t have the hunger. But you have balls, you have good instincts an’ ideas, you think on your feet. But you need to learn to cool your temper.”

She looked Rio in the eye, not sure where he was going with all of this and they stared at each other silently for a moment. There was that thing in the air between them, that charge, that electricity. She had missed it and then he looked her up and down, taking in her black shirt dress with the tie cynching her waist before making eye contact with her, challenging her to say something but Beth didn’t. Instead her eyes widened because she realised at that moment that he too had missed the heat between them. 

Rio’s eyes went a little darker and he spoke a little more quietly at her. “Your debt to me is paid, in full. The other two, they still owe me. The one that’s married to a cop, her debt can be paid if she can get me certain information I will need in a lil’ while. An’ the other is in debt indefinitely, unless you wanna help her out.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you but first you gotta answer a question.”

Beth swallowed. “What?”

“That night, when you took the truck keys, were you going to tell me about my boy, Eddie, being with the feds?”

Beth took a sharp in-take of breath and Rio’s eyes narrowed. He looked out of the kitchen window, smirking a little, knowingly, before sipping his coffee and looking back at her, challenging.

“Well, Elizabeth?”

Beth nodded. “Yes, I was.”

“But your bitches said no, right?”

“They didn’t want you to kill him.”

Rio looked at her coldly and spoke firmly. “How I run my business an’ what I do to those who try screw me, is my business. It ain’t up to you or your bitches.”

“I didn’t say it was.”

“You let me down. You an’ me, we were plain with each other, I trusted you an’ you should have told me.”

“I know.” Beth turned from him then, putting her mug of coffee down on the counter, leaning forward on it and looking down. She felt sick again. He had looked at her so coldly, spoken coldly. He was disappointed in her and she couldn't handle it. 

But he was right to be disappointed in her. Not telling him about Eddie had gone against her better instincts, and everything had gone wrong after she allowed herself to be silenced by going along with Ruby and Annie. She should have told him. She should not have framed him. All this mess was of her own making.

She took a deep breath and felt him standing behind her, sensing his heat and power rather then hearing him approach her.

“The thing, with bein’ a boss Elizabeth, is that you gotta think what’s best for business. What’s best for business means doin’ things that ain’t popular, goin’ against what associates think is right, dealin’ with rotten eggs to protect your assets an’ thinkin’ on your feet. You gotta a lot to learn but I know you can handle yo’self. An’ you know it too. I know you bin strugglin’ the past few months, but you did it to yo’self. I could have made things a lot worse for you.”

Beth swallowed, she wanted to turn around but couldn't face him. “Why didn’t you?”

He understood what she wanted him to verbalise, but he stayed silent, waiting for her to turn around.

She felt the pull and gave in, turning to face him, he was only inches away from her. She looked him full in the eyes, she looked at him openly, honestly. There was no false bravado, no protective barrier, no challenge, no defence in place, no anger, no fear but she knew that being this open, being this raw in front of him meant showing not just her vulnerability, but her strength and also, her need. Her need for him: his approval, his challenge, his energy, his brooding and his tightly coiled, hidden desire.

Rio swallowed as he looked at her, his eyes dark, but he saw her. He saw all of her and just for a moment, he let her see all of him. His power and his front to conceal any weakness. The non-stop movement of his business that masked any loneliness. The man at the top of his game, the boss, the king of kings who was deep down, quietly, subliminally seeking something more. The power, the money, the danger, it fed him but he still secretly wanted something else. The desire for her, the curiosity about her, the quiet recognition of something in her that was the same thing within himself. It was that thing that had ignited his fire, it made him want to watch her, be near her, school her and learn from her but it had been kept in check by the sting of her betrayal. 

He didn't explain, he wasn’t ready yet, and he wasn’t sure he would be, instead he breathed out heavily as he licked his lower lip and looked away. He took a step back and Beth felt that it was rejection. It felt like he’d just cut her out again. It took all of her strength to not crumble right there in front of him. She looked away, silently building the wall back up between them.

Rio walked back to the island and picked up the ‘B’ mug draining it of coffee before putting it down again. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking his messages and sighing. 

With his back to her he spoke low as he put his phone back in his pocket. “I’ve got a new business, a warehouse for raw materials for kitchens an’ bathrooms an’ what not, that we bring in from around the country an’ across the boarder. I need showroom staff that are approachable, presentable, relatable. The showroom ain’t gonna be full time hours, so your sister can keep her store job, but you can help by frontin’ it with her. A year for now, on a commission led salary. The business has to turn a decent profit, it has to work as a legitimate business. I want you to do more than front it though. I want you involved behind the scenes. Movin’ legitimate an’ non-legitimate items. Your cop wife friend will be called upon when I need information. Again, a year for her an’ then we’ll renegotiate.”

Beth looked at his back, was he serious? He turned then, facing her, looking her in the eye. He was serious.

“Can I, can I think about it? I mean, I need to explain it to them and, and I need to know more, I mean...”

Rio cut in. “It’s as I said it was Elizabeth an’ it’s a good deal. I gotta be somewhere now, but I’ll be in touch soon, I need the boxes.”

Beth looked away, feeling shut down by him. “Sure.”

Rio stared at her but she wouldn’t look back at him, she felt too flat, too shut down by him, her heat and desire crushed by his turned back, by his continued rejection. He waited for a moment or two longer, staring at her, and then he left just as he had come in, silently. 

Beth stayed leaning on her counter for a good few minutes, focusing on her breathing, afraid to move just yet because she was scared that a wave of pain might hit her. His kiss last night had been a mistake, it was just a two people who were in shock sharing a moment, nothing more. Perhaps he needed to remind himself he was alive, the kiss had done that to her. Beth might be good enough to bring into his new business, but she wasn’t good enough for anything else in his life. 

She took a deep breath in, telling herself to focus on the positives and she thought about what he had said again, he wanted her to do more than be a grunt person for him. She was going to be on the front face of things, legitimate, and yet also would work behind the scenes. 

And with that thought her heartbeat picked up and she pulled herself upright. He didn’t want her gone, yes he had let her go, absolved her of all her debt to him, she owed him nothing, but he didn’t want her gone. She could be both legitimate and non-legitimate, which made her pulse quicken more than she would ever admit to. She smiled, a bright smile, a giant smile, and laughed out loud, the first genuine non-forced laugh in such a long time.

That fire that had been fizzling out within, well, she felt it being stoked once again.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Beth spoke about Rio’s proposal to Annie and Ruby on their girls night in and whilst they were apprehensive, especially Ruby who asked how the hell was she supposed to do what Rio wanted when Stan and her were still on rocky ground? But it was better than boarder crosses and spending thousands every week in fake cash. 

Beth had a message from Rio telling her to head to the usual warehouse with the boxes on Friday evening, telling her of another place drop off the cash off an hour later. She rolled her eyes at that but did as she was bid. Her kids were with Dean for the night, he was taking them to an amusement park out of town on Saturday and was planning on dropping them off on Sunday morning, doing the full on fun Dad routine, but it meant Beth had a full day to herself so she could spare the two and a half hours Rio demanded from her.

The guys in the warehouse took one look at her, in her three quarter length sleeve tight wrap black top and a midi-length pleated black and gold skirt teamed with her wedge espadrilles that had straps that wrapped up her ankles, and they told her to get back in the car, carrying the boxes for her. Beth smiled her thanks and drove off to the next drop off, a car park for an actual park.

She checked her make-up hadn’t melted off in the early evening sun and then pulled her book out of her bag, reading it until there was a rap at the passenger door. She looked up to see Rio, and unlocked the van doors.

He stepped in, slipping easily into the seat and looked her in the eye before speaking. “Got the cash?”

He wasn’t exactly one for pleasantries so Beth followed his lead. “By your feet.”

Rio pulled the bag onto his lap and looked around before counting it out.

“So, it’s a yes from me and Ruby and Annie.”

“To what?” Rio continued counting, not distracted by her.

“To your proposal.”

“It was a proposal to you, the others don't get a choice.”

Beth frowned. “Okay, but I need to know the pay and details, like when is it going to start?”

Rio stopped counting and handed Beth a wedge of bills. “Your cut.”

Beth looked at him questioningly and he looked back at her, his eyebrows raised.

“Two weeks or so. The others need to clear another two hundred G’s first.”

Beth took a deep breath in and looked out of the drivers window, he surely knew that she wasn’t going to let them do that on their own? She pushed the bills under her seat and turned back to look at him. He was looking at her body and his eyes travelled slowly to meet hers. She felt the heat in his gaze and she couldn’t help but blush a little. 

“You going out somewhere Mama?”

“No, I, why?”

He looked down at her skirt and then back to her eyes and Beth shook her head at him.

“Just heading home to your kids?”

“No, they’re with their dad till Sunday.”

“So you’re dressed like that, with nowhere to go?”

“Dressed like what?” Beth looked down at herself, feeling the heat in her cheeks build. When she looked back at him he was smiling at her.

“So you free?”

“I, guess?” 

“There’s a place, well, two places I can show you. One has been renovated using materials from our supplies an’ the other is, well, you’ll see. Meet me in an hour.”

He gave her the name of a bar and left her car, driving off quickly and Beth looked the bar up on her phone. There wasn’t enough time for her to go home and freshen up as it would take thirty minutes to get there anyway, so she waited in the car park for another fifteen minutes, re-freshing her make-up and drove to the bar. 

She realised when she got there that it was only a few blocks from where she had dropped Rio off on the guilt trip night. She pulled the cash from under her seat and put it in her purse, placing it under her book and then got out of the car.

She walked in to the bar which was buzzing with people, but she found a seat at one end of the polished slate countertop bar, admiring the mix of plants and booze on display on glass and gold shelves that hovered behind the bar staff. Just as she was about to order a drink, Rio slid up next to her and the bar-attendant immediately ignored her and addressed him.

“Rio, great to see you again, what can I get you?”

Rio acknowledged the man but turned to Beth. “You ordered?”

“I was about to.”

“Let me guess, bourbon on the rocks?”

Beth nodded and he turned to the barman. “The best Bourbon you have on the rocks for the lady an’ Mezcal for me.”

“Coming up.”

The barman disappeared, leaving Rio leaning against the bar, staring at Beth. She stared back at him, taking in his white gold chain on his crew neck black t-shirt, his rings on his fingers and the wrists wraps he had, the dark jeans and sneakers. He eyed her lazily and smiled. 

“So what do you think?”

Beth looked a little flustered and it made him laugh which did something to her insides. It had been so long since she had heard him laugh like that.

“About the bar Elizabeth. We provided the slate and units.”

Beth looked around her then with renewed interest. “It’s impressive, Rio, really.” 

She looked back at him and smiled and he licked his bottom lip, looking at her. 

They stayed there talking quietly as they had their drinks and then Rio took her hand and walked her out, without paying, shrugging when Beth looked at him. He told her he was a silent partner there. Beth didn’t ask anymore, feeling butterflies in her stomach because Rio’s hand was firmly gripping hers and she couldn’t really think of anything else but the feel of his warm skin on hers. 

When they got to Rio’s front door she followed him in without really saying anything but she paid attention to the hallway and the old fashioned open metalwork lift. His front door was dark and heavy but led into a light and airy hallway and an open space apartment which was huge and not totally open spaced when she paid more attention to it as she followed him through the hallway to a living room space, then a dining and kitchen area. She didn’t have time to ogle at the perfect design and materials as he’d led her to a metal spiral staircase which went up to a rooftop. 

It was a large outdoor space, an oasis of calm on a balmy night and had numerous potted plants and some seating. It had just gotten dark and the city lights were on all around them just as the stars were out. Beth followed Rio to a wall that overlooked the street and they stood against it, admiring the view for a minute in silence. Rio then fiddled with his phone and some music came on, something unexpectedly mellow but perfect for the night. She smiled as she looked around.

“This, this space and this view, it’s beautiful Rio.”

“I know.”

Beth laughed at that, he had no false modesty.

“You wanna drink?”

“Sure.”

Rio smiled at her and disappeared for a few minutes, leaving Beth to walk around the rooftop, looking at the plants and the different views. When he reappeared, with a beer for him and a bourbon for her, he motioned for her to head to a wall which had some kind of futon leaning on it.

He lay down on his back and Beth took a breath, silently doing the same, looking up at the stars. Rio pointed to the constellations, explaining which was which, his favourite of the summer sky being the dragon, or Draco, near Ursa Minor.

“How do you know so much about the night sky?” Beth asked.

“I read an’ I have a good memory.”

“I believe that.”

“You should, I don’t lie.”

“Hmm.” Beth sat up to take a sip from her bourbon and then lay down again.

“No hmms ‘bout it.”

“Okay, you’re honest in your business dealings but you’re not honest with the powers that be.”

“An’ you are?”

Beth shook her head. “No, and I discovered a few months back that lying is my super power.”

“You better not use that on me.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Rio sat up a little, leaning his head on his hand as he looked at her. “So you’re honest to me?”

Beth turned to face him. “Yes, I am. I know I should have said some things to you in the past but I promise to be straight with you from now on.”

“Okay. So why did you kiss me back at the vets?”

Beth swallowed, feeling his darks eyes burn into hers and her cheeks coloured. How could he ask that? She felt the heat of his gaze on her and she took a breath, she had nothing to lose and perhaps nothing to gain either. “Because I wanted to. Why did you kiss me?”

“It felt right. An’ I wanted to. I wanted to on an’ off for a while. I ain’t exactly liked you for a time, but I still wanted to taste you.”

Beth almost laughed but she held back and just smiled at the night sky instead.

“I can feel your smile from here Mama.”

“Do you still want to?”

“Kiss you?”

“Yes.” Beth’s heart was racing as he pulled closer to her.

“Why do you think I brought you here?”

Beth beamed as he leant over her, smiling at her, his lips brushing against hers, gently like the last time but as their mouths opened and bodies got closer and their tongues touched, the electricity between them built. Their kisses became deeper, more passionate, teasing. He bit her lip and kissed along her jawline to her neck, trailing wet kisses down to her clavicle, kissing between her breasts as she let her hands roam over his back and his pert and firm as fuck ass. 

His hands explored her body over her clothes, her breasts, her ribs, her waist and her stomach, stroking down her legs and under her skirt to seek the flesh of her thighs. She gasped at him and pulled him back for a deep kiss, feeling his hardness pressing on her stomach.

“What are we doing Rio?” She had pulled back from his kiss for a moment, her heart was racing, her pupils dilated, her whole body was pulsing with desire and her panties were soaked.

“Each other, I hope.”

“Here?” 

Rio laughed, quirking his eyebrows. “You not comfortable alfresco Mama?”

“Do you have cameras up here that others can access?”

Rio frowned. “Potentially, yeh. We can take this inside?”

Beth nodded, kissing him before whispering onto his lips. “Take me to your bedroom.”

He needed no encouragement, he got up quickly and pulled her to her feet, walking her back to the staircase. She followed him down, the blood pounding in her ears, the electricity in her body alive and crackling as he took her hand and led through the different areas of the apartment to his bedroom, which thankfully had walls and a ceiling all the way around it.

He led her to his windowsill, backing her against it, so she perched her butt on it, letting him push her back a little more so her back was touching the lower glass, the window above her was wide open. He then stood between her legs and kissed her deeply, passionately, his tongue dominating hers as his hands massaged her breasts, feeling for her nipples. She whimpered into his mouth when he squeezed them, making them hard before he pulled back from her, going down on his knees as he untied her espadrille laces letting them fall to the floor. He then moved her feet to press against the wall below the window and slowly pushed her skirt up her thighs before pulling her magenta lace panties equally as slowly down her legs, stroking her skin as he went, looking her in her eyes the whole time.

It was one of the most erotic moments of Beth’s life, taking both forever and not enough time.

He parted her legs a little more with his shoulders as he moved closer to her centre and he broke their eye contact to stare at her glistening lips, his eyes wide with desire as he was finally going to get to taste her. 

He took one last look up at her face before his pressed his lips against her lower lips and she couldn’t help but gasp. She felt his tongue firmly stroke her entrance over and over, before he flatly pressed his tongue inside for just a moment and then he focused on sucking her clit as he brought a hand around to join his mouth, moving two fingers over her entrance, stroking her, dipping inside her, gently, taking his time to work on her with his fingers and tongue, pressing his fingers more firmly into her as she gasped more. The wetter she got, she more deeply he slid his fingers inside her, until he found her little rough patch and he working on it meticulously. 

Beth couldn’t control her reactions as he rubbed and she wriggled, his skilled fingers and tongue bringing her to a frenzy as she held onto the window ledge crying out so that if people passing on the street three floors below paid attention they would hear her pleasure moans through the open window as she pressed herself against Rio’s face in the throws of her orgasm.

She was riding the aftershock waves of her orgasm high as he pulled back from her, standing up, smirking at her, pleased with himself. He then put his hands under her ass cheeks and carried her the short distance to the bed, laying her on it as he stood beside her. 

She swallowed and spoke shakily. “I hope I wasn’t too loud.”

“Nah, I wanna hear you, a man likes to know he’s doin’ the right thing.” He licked his lips devilishly as he spoke and he started to strip for her, letting her come down to from her orgasm and letting her see his perfect athletic body. 

Beth admired him, the toned muscles of his stomach and back with the various intricate ink patterns that spread around his ribs. He undid his belt slowly, taking time to unbutton his jeans, and he inched his tented boxers off over his hard cock, comfortable with his body, comfortable with his cock, as he'd never disappointed anyone with it and the magic it could do.

Beth swallowed slightly, staring at every inch of his skin, drinking him in, her lips parted, making a noise as she breathed out staring at the cock that was pointing up for her. Fuck he was fine. She hadn’t had it bad with Dean, he kept in shape, he used to make an effort for her, his cock was hardly lacking but the spark had died between them before their last two babies arrived. And the desire she felt for this honey skinned, dark eyed adonis next to her with a cock that slightly curved as it stood to attention, the desire she felt was way off the charts. She simply hadn’t felt anything like this need for Dean.

Rio looked at Beth and his eyes travelled down her body, pausing on her breasts, so she sat up, lifting her arms up, looking at him. He moved onto the bed next to her and pulled her tight top over her chest and head and he sighed as he looked at her breasts encased in their magenta lace bra. She unzipped her skirt and he pulled it off her, then he bent down and unhooked her bra with ease, discarding it at the other end of the bed.

He looked at her, at every inch of her and moved his body onto hers, so their skin was touching as he spoke low and deep and almost hoarse with desire. 

“You are so perfect, you're a goddamn goddess. Do you bathe in milk to get your skin so perfect?”

Beth laughed shaking her head before nibbling his neck. “Do you bathe in molasses to get your skin to taste so sweet?”

Rio grinned at her and they kissed deeply, their hands smoothing over each others skin, exploring, till Beth moved her lips to trace Rio’s chest, sucking at his nipples, stroking his cock with her fingers as he breathed deeply in and out. When he couldn’t handle her teasing her anymore, he moved her to her back, copying her by sucking her nipples and stroking her wet entrance with his fingers. 

With that, Rio took a sharp in breath and moved off Beth’s body to get a condom which he rolled onto his cock before moving back on top of Beth. She swallowed, ready for him, full of desire and need and also, quietly nervous. They kissed, deeply as he positioned himself at her entrance and then he slowly eased in, moaning low as Beth gasped. 

“Oh man, you’re tight.” He hadn’t thought they’d be much resistance to him when she was so wet, so he rolled his hips against hers and lifted her ass a little to help her accommodate him.

“Ahh, oh, that feels good. It’s been years, years since I, oh shit, Rio.” She spoke breathily, her hands clinging onto his shoulders, consumed by pleasure from his cock as it stroked in and out of her.

“Years since you got it, huh? I'd better make it good for you. Fuckin’ glad I bought a twelve pack, cos Mama, you feel so good, you’re gonna keep me busy tonight.”

Beth couldn’t help but laugh and Rio felt her body contract, and it turned him on. He kissed her deeply, as he moved inside her and they built up a rhythm, kissing each others mouths and necks and collarbones and chests and nipples. They slowed down when Rio got close to coming, and changed positions so they could feel as much as they could of each other until Beth was sat in his lap, her legs slung around his hips as he sat on the edge of the bed, their lips touching when Beth gasped loudly and pulled her head back from Rio.

“Oh, shit.” That feeling, that about to fall over the edge of cliff feeling had hit her, everything inside her was vibrating, taught, ready to explode. It had been so long since she had experienced such a deep orgasm, and her eyes were wide as she looked at Rio.

“You can do it baby, I got you, come on me, come on me, come for me. Come for me, Elizabeth.”

His voice, his using her full name and his moving his hips at the exact right spot pushed her over the edge. She came gasping his name and intensely staring in his eyes in shock as he held firmly onto her buttocks. She collapsed her head on his shoulders, letting him hold her as her body pulsated from her core out. It was all he needed to finally let himself release and he pumped into her hard for a few strokes before he came undone, crying out her name, holding her damp body tightly to his, lost inside her.

They stayed locked together, in each others arms before Rio pulled back a bit and Beth slowly and gingerly climbed off him, so they could lay facing each other, legs entwined after Rio had removed the condom. He trailed his hands over her arms as she traced her fingers across his stubble.

“I’ve been coming to the thought of fucking you for so long, an' as great as that's bin, the real thing was way, way, way outta this world.” Rio breathed out loudly, grinning at Beth.

“You fantasised about me?” She looked incredulously at him.

“God yeh, your attitude, the wide eyes, those endless fucking tight knit mom sweaters an’ the way you’d ask me questions to challenge me when I was trying not to make it obvious I had a thing for you.”

“Really? You’re just kidding me, right? I didn’t know that.”

“Yeh, right, you musta had a lil' inklin' else you’d never have kissed me back that night.”

“I may have had a secret crush but I didn’t seriously think you were interested.”

“I thought you liked me, till you tried to put me away.”

Beth winced at that tried to move from him but Rio pulled her close to him. 

“Elizabeth, it’s part of our history, we can’t ignore it but we moved on from it.”

She nodded at him, and kissed his lips gently as he stroked her face.

“You’re so beautiful, so utterly beautiful. Right now I’m the luckiest man alive.”

Beth smiled again and Rio kissed her. They lay kissing and touching each other gently until their kisses got more urgent and their touching became more intimate and a condom came out of the box as they made each other come again and then again until they had worn each other out. 

They didn’t leave Rio’s apartment till midday on Saturday, to eat breakfast at lunch time. Beth had borrowed a t-shirt of Rio’s that clung tight to her chest which pleased him, and he had rolled the sleeves up for her, making her look cooler than she had ever been in her whole life. They held hands, shared smiles, talked a lot and where easy company. He walked her to her car and kissed her tenderly goodbye and she drove home beaming.

She did some chores, walked Buddy and spoke to Annie and Ruby as she soaked her sex sated and sore body in a hot bath, although she neglected to mention to either of them that she had spent the night with Rio. She watched an episode of a TV show on netflix as she ate a snack and then decided, despite it only being nine at night, to take her tired but still glowing from all the love body to bed to read her book. As she turned her TV off there was a knock at her door. She walked to it, opening it and grinned from ear to ear at the person standing on her porch.

“Kids aren’t back till 10 tomorrow, right?”

“Yes.”

“Want some company until the morning light?”

“Hell, yes.”

Rio smirked as Beth pulled him in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> & so the chemistry thing happens!! I hope you liked this chapter...
> 
> I listened to this of the first half as I can imagine Rio would listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX6kOC_4Zyw
> 
> & for the steamier second half: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKlA5tRu6f0
> 
> I have to also thank the fellow writer, 'Athingcalledlove' who wrote 'Blurring the Line' where Rio takes Beth to buy his kitchen with him as it made me think... thank you so much for aiding inspiration! Thank you also to Hilda_Kamau for finding this one! x 
> 
> & THANK YOU as always for reading this, I know I write too much in the chapters! <3


	3. Summer heat

It had been five weeks since Rio had kissed her, however unintentionally at the vets, and four weeks since he had very intentionally helped her out of her clothes and made her orgasm over and over again at his apartment. 

Beth still had a little bit of a hard time believing that the past few weeks were real, but the sun had seemed to shine brighter and people seemed to be smiling more. What Beth didn’t realise was that she was the one who was smiling at everyone, and that they couldn’t help themselves but smile back.

Rio had also been less tetchy with his boys, he didn’t glare at them as chillingly when they wanted to ask him something that he thought the answer to was pretty obvious. Rio didn’t have time for stupidity. To be honest, he didn't have time. There were now so many elements to expanding empire that time had become an even more precious commodity for Rio. But still, he did his best to make time to see Beth, who had been under his skin for some time and who was now constantly on his mind.

They discreetly met up when they could, sometimes during the day at her house where they would sneak an hour or two together, and Rio would have to bite his lower lip when he left her place to keep his grin under control. Or when her kids were with Dean at the weekend, she would head to his apartment for two nights of leisurely lovemaking as that, although she wouldn’t say it to Rio, that is what it felt like to her. She would leave him to drive back home to meet her kids totally glowing with bliss from the inside out, beaming for hours. Dean would look at her curiously and would try and hang out for a coffee, drawn to her still, but Beth always sent him on his way.

Occasionally, when Rio and her hadn’t managed to meet for a few days, he would sneak into her house when the whole neighbourhood was asleep, and they would add their body heat to the already sultry summer night, trying to be quiet so as to not wake anyone. But Beth struggled to be quiet when everything Rio did to her was pure, unadulterated sex-magic. 

And she still couldn’t quite get used to seeing him naked. His body was a work of art, not just because of the intricate black patterns and symbols that wrapped around his ribs and that Beth had come to see as beautiful, but because he was so sculpted. His body, without the protection of his layers of clothes was so perfect that Beth thought he should be a model, probably a fancy designer jeans model with an open shirt displaying his abs or an underwear model because, well, his package was rather fine. He was so agile, all lean, toned muscle, so deceptively strong and he had so much stamina. 

They were both so turned on by each other after months of cat and mouse exchanges that the first few times with Rio, she hadn’t felt embarrassed at all about her own body, the fact that her flesh was so soft, that her belly was curved and had not one but two caesarian scars, that she had pale stretch-marks that snaked up her hips, that had she looked too closely she’d see that her ass and the backs of her thighs had cellulite that beauty brands would try and sell her lotions for.

Then Rio had come to see her in the middle of the day at the end of that first week and he’d stripped her on the couch in the TV snug room. She had suddenly felt so exposed in the broad daylight. Her softness, her curves were so far from his lean corded frame and she felt self-conscious.

Rio, however, didn’t see her as she saw herself, he was so full of desire for her, for Elizabeth, for her beautiful, magical and curvaceous body as it was, the carrier of this spirited woman, the woman who'd been on his brain for so long. He was so intensely drawn to her and deeply attracted to her, and he told her this when he saw how her eyes had become clouded and how she pulled at the blanket on the back of the couch to try and cover herself. 

He’d then narrowed his eyes and scooped her up, carrying her bare naked ass to her bedroom as she protested, and put her in the middle of her neatly made bed, the daylight beaming in despite the netting in the windows. He wouldn’t let her cover herself, they were both naked and unprotected so their bodies quirks were on open display to each other in the sun bright room. There was no place to hide in the light and despite the time limitation Rio was under, he’d taken his time to kiss and stroke every inch of her body, telling her over and over how goddamn beautiful she was. She couldn’t help it but came over and over again for him, for what he was saying, for what he was doing to her, for how he made her feel. In that moment she saw herself as he saw her: perfect.

Neither of them had really talked about what they were doing together, they were still being as professional as they had been before when meeting up for the last of the cash drop-offs and then in the two weeks that followed at the new warehouse, which had just opened to customers. When they were alone together they would mostly switch the outside world off, they wanted to be close to one another, talk about anything other than his empire and her part in it. 

And Beth had thrown herself into her new job, having enrolled her and Annie in a three day online sales training course, which had been slightly helpful, but they both knew on-the-job training would be better and two weeks in, Beth felt more relaxed about things. She was good with people, approachable, just as Rio had said. She got on well with Al, who was the day-to-day manager in the new warehouse although Rio made it clear that he was the ‘boss’. He just couldn’t be there as much as everyone else could be. 

Al was similar to Rio’s other associates, being a heavier worked-out build, his dark skin was covered in tattoos, he had an impressively perfect high fade and a gruff voice. But unlike Rio’s other associates, Al talked, a lot. He knew everything there was to know about raw materials for bars and kitchens and what would work together, the craftsmanship required for each job. He had a dry sense of humour, watched trash TV that he wanted to discuss and his smile was huge. He had been nothing but kind and patient to Beth and Annie in the two weeks since they had been the front face of the warehouse and they had both instantly warmed to him. After hearing Annie go on about Al, Ruby had demanded to meet him, not believing that anyone nice or with a reasonable name could be in Rio’s crew. 

It was a Thursday morning, Annie’s day in the warehouse and Beth had offered to take Ruby and Sarah to the hospital for her check up. Ruby’s car was in the garage and Stan couldn’t get the time off. Beth had walked them into the hospital and then sat in the cafeteria with her book and a mediocre coffee, waiting for them.

“Elizabeth? What are you doing here?”

Beth looked up from her book to see Rosario staring at her, smiling. Beth swallowed at first, recalling that horrendous night. “Hi, yes, sorry, most people call me Beth. I’m just waiting for a friend Ruby and her daughter, Sara, who had a transplant a few months back.”

“How is she doing?”

“She’s doing great, really great.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Hey, would you mind if I took a seat, I’ve got a five minute break?”

Beth nodded. “Yes, of course, please do Rosario.”

“Call me Rosa, I use Rosario professionally, and Rio only calls me that when we’re picking bones with each other, or when he’a introducing me to an important person.” As she sat down, she gave Beth her bright, warm smile, a smile that surely won over the small people she treated as well as their parents.

Beth couldn't help but smile back, curious about the important people comment.

Rosario continued. “I know Rosa is kinda old lady sounding but Ma named me after her aunt, so she always shortened it, to differentiate.”

“I think they’re both good names.”

“Thanks, yours too, but why choose Beth over Elizabeth?”

Beth shrugged. “I’ve always been known as Beth.”

Rosa looked at Beth the way Rio sometimes did, a questioning look that made Beth think again about what had been asked of her and the answer she had given. She was Beth, she had always been Beth but maybe, maybe now she was becoming Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth came out in the planning and execution of the ‘Fine & Frugal’ robberies. Elizabeth was the mastermind behind the secret shoppers. Elizabeth was also the face of the warehouse, finally being recognised with her very own legitimate company email address ‘Elizabeth@...’.  Beth had smiled when she was told about that by Al. She knew Rio was behind her email address and it made her feel both warm and empowered. 

And Elizabeth was empowered. She had been the one who had dealt with Rio whilst dressed in Beth’s suburban clothes. Elizabeth grew from their exchanges. And Beth liked that she was becoming the person she had always wanted to be, not the person she had been.

“My brother doesn’t call you Beth.”

Beth looked away. “No, he doesn’t.”

“You know, that night, when I met you, I knew you must be important because he never brings anyone to see Ma. He didn’t ever bring Marisol and they were together for years, I mean they even got engaged before their final split. And as you were both a bit of a mess that night I thought you had picked him up from the police station. It took me not seeing you for a few weeks and Rio refusing to say much about you for me to piece it together. Bullet confirmed you were working for him, but he thought you were a pain in the ass, and I see you looking at me like that. 

“I treat Bullet’s daughters, and so occasionally when I need questions answering, he answers them. He’s a sweet guy when you ignore the external wrapper. And I don’t ask Bullet anything controversial or incriminating, the guys loyalties are to my brother, which is where yours should be.”

Beth's heart had dropped at the mention of Marisol, Rio's ex-fiancé but she had paid attention to everything Rosario had said, and she felt the heavy weight of guilt again. She looked Rosario in the eye and spoke firmly. “They are. My loyalties are with Rio.”

“Maybe now, but it was you who tried to put him away.”

Beth looked down, swallowing, Rosario was astute. Beth decided to not deny it. “It was complicated.”

“That he’s kept you so close, that you’re working for him in his new real business, which I’m glad he’s finally doing by the way, but that tells me things are still complicated. Do I need to worry about what damage you could to do to my brother?”

“No.” Beth didn’t hesitate in her answer as it was honest.

“Should I worry about what he’s doing with you? No offence, but Rio’s style hasn’t exactly been,” Rosario paused as she narrowed her eyes at Beth, just like Rio would. “The whole suburban middle-class paradise thing. I mean he’s smart, too smart for his own good, but you know, he’s made his decisions, just as I’ve made mine and you've made yours. He could have gone far in a very different way. I can’t deny he’s doing brilliantly but I can’t say I’m proud of what he does. But I am loyal to him, I love him without question. I may criticise him, but I sure as hell won’t allow anyone else to or to hurt him.”

Beth could only reiterate again. “My loyalties are with Rio.”

“Putting him away isn’t loyal. He’s needs to breath, his mind needs to be stimulated, he’d suffocate if he was caged and forced into a routine that didn’t allow him freedom. Marisol didn’t get that.”

Beth swallowed. She couldn’t fail to pick up on the second Marisol name drop. “I know that now, but at the time I thought he, well, it doesn’t matter what I believed. What matters is that I would not do that again. I am loyal to your brother, I protect his interests and him, and I’ve already proved that.”

Rosario looked at Beth, her head slightly tilted to one side, her expression unreadable but she either liked what Beth said or she saw something in Beth’s demeanour that she believed. 

“Well, I could never fault Rio’s judgement, just what he does. And now, I should get back to my patients, but I’m glad I saw you and got to talk. I’m sure I’ll see you again Elizabeth.” Rosa held her hands out to Beth and Beth took them both, squeezing them, before letting go. 

Beth watched Rosa walk away and then she sat down again, slightly lost in her own thoughts until Sara zoomed up to her, a giant grin on her face. She was doing well and it showed in every way. As they made their way to the car, Ruby turned to Beth.

“Who was that Doctor you were talking to?”

“That was Rosa, she’s Rio’s sister.”

“What?” Ruby’s eyes went wide.

“Yes, I’ll explain how I met her another time.”

 

************************************

 

Beth was due to have the kids all weekend and Rio was snowed under, so he asked her to meet him for lunch during her shift at the warehouse. She’d warned him that her boss would only allow her a 30 minute break, but he told her not to worry, he’d square it. They met at their usual cafe and they both ordered super food salads and iced tea.

“You got something on your mind Mama?”

Beth swallowed, annoyed with herself that she couldn’t hide things from Rio. She hadn’t wanted to ask him about Marisol but in the 24 hours since she’d known that Rio had had a fiancé, she had become uncomfortably curious. She had recalled that when she had first met him, when he had come to her house with his guys to intimidate her, and when she’d gone to the warehouse with the wrapping paper after the first boarder crossing, he'd worn a sizeable ring on his ring finger.

“I took Ruby and Sara to the hospital yesterday and bumped into Rosa.”

Rio’s eyebrows quirked slightly. “Oh, so she’s Rosa now, is she?”

Beth ignored Rio’s tone and continued. “She mentioned Marisol, your fiancé.”

Rio looked away from Beth, sighing. He put his fork down he sat back a little in seat. “So?”

“You never mentioned you had a fiancé.”

Rio’s voice had a slight edge to it. “You never asked, I never said. It’s in the past.”

Beth almost whispered. “Recent past.”

Rio looked Beth in the eyes, his expression unreadable. “You got your divorce papers signed yet?”

Beth swallowed. “That’s not the same.”

“It’s more recent an’ I don’t bother you ‘bout that.”

“No, you don’t, but I’ve told you all about it, I’ve reassured you, you know how I feel about Dean. I didn’t have a clue about her.”

“Does it bother you more that you didn't have a clue or that she existed?”

It was Beth’s turn to look away then. He was right of course. Of course Rio had serious exes, because of course he’d had long-term relationships. Beth wasn’t naive, the man knew his way around her body, around the female body and as much as that might come naturally, Beth had guessed that it also came from that long-term committed relationship experience. Rio had been ready to marry someone when their paths had originally crossed, and Beth had had no idea about it. She wasn’t comfortable with the strange feeling this caused in her chest, the unfamiliar feeling of jealousy. 

“Elizabeth, look at me.”

She turned back to him, he’d moved and was leaning forward in his seat, looking at her intensely.

“It ended before Thanksgiving last year, but it’d been over for a long time. You an’ I both have a past, an’ that’s what it is, the past. You gotta live in the now an’ not spend energy focusing what’s behind, yeh?”

Beth nodded. “Okay, it’s just, I, I didn’t have a clue that you had a fiancé and it made me feel weird.”

Rio shrugged. “Okay, then let’s tell each other ‘bout any significant people in our lives next weekend.”

“You already know every significant person in my life and everything about me!” Beth snorted and stabbed some lettuce with her fork.

“Nah, that ain’t true Mama an’ I’d like to know more ‘bout you.”

Beth looked up at Rio and he smiled his mischievous grin at her. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “It’ll take all of five minutes.”

“Well, I can think of something else we can do for the rest of the weekends 2875 minutes.”

“How do even know how many minutes are in a weekend?”

“I’m good at math baby.”

Beth laughed despite herself and they ate the rest of their lunch in their usual relaxed manner. Beth paid and they walked out together, close but not touching and said goodbye casually, with Rio giving her a quick once over with his eyes.

The weekend passed by in a blur of activity with the kids and their various clubs and parties and a 40 minute midnight visit from Rio who was running between jobs, but on Wednesday morning, when Beth had finished her yoga practise at home and was putting on the second laundry load of the day, Rio walked in, went up to her and without ceremony pulled her over his shoulder, fireman-lift style, carrying her to her bedroom as she squealed. 

“Rio! Put me down!”

“Nah Mama, I got ‘xactly two hours, a three pack o'rubbers, an’ we got some serious catching up to do.”

They utilised his time well, working out on her bed and then he pulled her into the shower with him, not wanting to let her go just yet. He left her to do her ‘beauty routine shit’ whilst he checked his phone in the kitchen and put coffee on for them.

When Beth had put her creams and lotions on, she walked into the kitchen dressed in the t-shirt Rio had lent her and let her keep from their first night together and dark jeans, her hair still wrapped in a towel turban. He looked up at her and grinned widely, so she pulled him close for a kiss, only stopping when she heard the sound of a key being turned in the front door.

Beth looked confused, and pulled away from Rio, taking steps to the hall. Rio strode in-front of her, protectively. They both stopped in their tracks when Dean walked into the hallway with a kids bag, his mouth agape when he saw Rio.

He hadn’t seen Rio since that night and hadn’t wanted to see him again, ever. Beth had told Dean that she did odd jobs for Rio but out of sight was out of mind for Dean, and he’d assumed Rio had moved on from his business with Beth and the girls, especially as Beth had announced she had a job. He definitely hadn’t expected to see Rio in the house he still felt was his home.

Dean looked at Beth in shock. She was luminous, glowing, with rosy cheeks and clearly shower fresh. His instincts told him, as they had told him all those months ago in what had been his bedroom, that Beth and this man were definitely intimately involved.

“Beth?” Dean looked from Beth to Rio.

Beth was silent for a moment before she spoke. “Dean, what are you doing here?”

“I have Jane’s bag.”

“Okay, thanks, but you should let me know before you come around. You can’t just let yourself in anymore.”

“It’s still my house Beth.”

She shook her head at him. “No, it’s not.”

“It is and it’s where my kids live, so I can come over when I want. What’s he doing here?”

Beth took a breath in, trying to not lose her temper at him as Rio chuckled.

“You miss me, car man?”

Dean refused to look at Rio which made Rio smirk.

Dean pointed at Rio. “He shouldn’t be in the house, I don’t want him anywhere near my kids.”

“Our kids Dean and it’s none of your business who comes into my house, when the kids are here or when they're not here.”

“You’re wrong Beth, the house is in my name too and I’m paying the mortgage too. And you know what he did to me, you saw it with your own eyes. I don’t want him in this house, he’s dangerous, you have no idea what he’s capable of. Has he still got you on a string?”

Rio spoke measuredly at Dean. “Enough car man. She ain’t on no hook, she’s legitimately employed now, an’ I’m due elsewhere, so cool it.” Rio then turned to Beth. “If I leave, you gonna be okay here?”

Beth nodded at him. “Yes, I’ll be fine, thanks.”

“No problem.” Rio turned to walk by Dean who stepped away from him, but as Rio got to the door, opening it, he turned back to Beth. “You better get the locks changed, yeh? Otherwise car man gonna be stopping by, bothering you all the time.”

He then shut the door but stayed outside it, listening to check Beth was okay.

“You can go now Dean.” Beth spoke sharply at him.

“What was that?”

“What?”

“Are you sleeping with him Beth?”

“What? You of all people have no right to ask me that question!” 

Dean exploded at her. “I have every right to ask you who you’re bringing into my children lives, into my home, especially when the person in question is a violent criminal!”

“Oh stop it Dean! And on that night, you were the one who hit him first.”

“What?”

“He told me.”

“And you believe what a gangbanger tells you over your husband of 20 years?”

“You’re not my husband anymore, we’re getting a divorce and yes I believe him because he has no reason to lie to me! He’s not been dishonest to me, he’s given me gainful employment. Also, let’s not forget without him, we’d have lost the house because you nearly bankrupted us!”

“What do you mean, given you gainful employment?”

Beth shrugged. “The part time job Annie got me is through Rio’s company.” 

Beth had told Dean she worked on Monday, Tuesday and Fridays in a designer kitchen and bathroom warehouse so he could occasionally help pick the kids up from school.

“What?” Dean exploded. “I forbid you to work for him!”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do Dean!”

“No? Well, I’ll just tell my lawyer that you’re working for and having sex with a gangbanger and you’ll lose the kids so, actually, I think I do get to tell you what to do.”

Beth took a breath in before speaking cooly and calmly at him. “Please go ahead and do that, and I’ll tell my lawyer all about your fake cancer and your lying Doctor. I’ll also tell them about the botox you had me steal so we could sell it to him and pay the mortgage that month.”

“You wouldn't dare!” Dean choked out.

“Whatever you think you have on me, you don’t. Don’t ever threaten me again. Now get out of my house and in future, you call me before you come around on your own.”

Rio walked away from the door then, taking panther like strides to his car up the street. He turned to check that Dean had left, before he picked up his cell and called Beth as he started his car.

“You okay?”

Beth’s voice sounded strained. “Yes, I think so. Sorry about Dean.” 

“He don’t bother me, but I meant what I said, you wanna change your locks for real, he ain’t gonna be knocking or giving you warning now he’s seen me at yours. He’s just gonna head over to try an’ catch you out. You know that, right?”

Beth sighed. “Yes, you are right. You aways were right about him.”

Rio just laughed. “Hey, listen, on Saturday, I been invited to an exhibition opening at a gallery near me. You wanna go?”

Beth swallowed as he heart skipped a beat. “Go with you, as in go as a friend or as in a date?”

Rio laughed again, and even though it was only on the phone, it made Beth feel warm inside. “Friends don’t do what we do Mama.”

“No, they don’t.”

“So?”

“Yes, of course.” 

“Good.” Rio then hung up without ceremony. 

Beth held her cell to her chest, beaming because of Rio, Dean’s threat almost forgotten. Almost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I can't seem to write shorter chapters... I should be doing 101 things but instead I wrote this!
> 
> I hope you enjoy it and THANK YOU as always for reading!! :D
> 
> I listened to this whilst writing it: 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-VET23C-9A
> 
> Lion Babe - Treat me like FIRE


	4. Artworks

Dean’s contact with Beth had been constant and curt since he appeared at her house on Wednesday, not that she cared a great deal, it was like dealing with a tantrum-throwing toddler, but she was relieved when the weekend arrived and he assumed parental responsibility for two nights which meant he’d be busy and she’d get a break from his shitty messages. However she couldn’t help but feel uneasy about his warning to her. Would he really tell his lawyer? Would he really try to take the kids from her? She was no longer sure what he was capable of.

When she finished working at the warehouse on Friday, she went straight home to wash the day off her body and pulled on a black cotton broderie anglaise dress that Rio had made her try on in a vintage store downtown. She wasn’t sure about it but had listened to him and had it dyed and fitted to her upper body, it had a v-neck that revealed a little cleavage and the skirt flared out flatteringly. She had to admit that it looked great on, and that Rio had a good eye. He could always see the potential in things. 

She packed her weekend bag with some fresh clothes, lacy underwear and toiletries before driving to Rio’s for nine. He said he was going to get tapas from his local deli, after he’d taken a run, his way of letting off steam from work, and Beth brought him a bottle of Rioja and the mezcal he liked. She parked a block away from his apartment as was her practise and walked to his, feeling the stresses of the week falling away with each step. He buzzed her up and was waiting for her by his front door dressed in loose work out shorts and a white t-shirt that made his skin look golden.

He shut his front door behind Beth and pulled her close for a kiss, probing her tongue deeply with his own, exploring her mouth, pressing his body against hers before pulling back, breathing heavily as he looked her up and down. 

“Nice dress Mama.”

“You like it? I had help in choosing it.” Beth grinned at him and then inhaled loudly. “You smell all shower fresh on this hot summer night.” 

Rio laughed. “You wouldn’t wanna have smelt me an hour back. Come on up baby, everything’s set up an’ ready.” 

Beth handed the canvas bag with the bottles in it to Rio and left her other bag on the couch as they walked up to his terrace, which was all lit up. The garden table was covered with various delicious tit-bits Rio had picked up from the deli and Beth smiled at Rio as he pulled out one of the garden chairs for her.

“This looked incredible and you can be quite the gentleman when you want to be.”

“Yeh, I can be a lot of things when I wanna be.”

Beth watched him as he sat down. “Isn’t that the truth?”

Rio smirked at Beth, opening the red wine and after handing her a glass, he told her to eat. Their conversation flowed easily but then Rio asked about how Dean had been after Tuesday.

“He doesn’t want me to work for you. He thinks you’re trouble.”

“Yeh, think he’d know by now you’re the troublesome one.”

“I am so not, but he might be difficult.” Beth took a breath. “He said if I don’t stop working for you he’d tell his lawyer that I was working with and sleeping with a criminal, so he could take the kids off me.”

Rio put his glass down and looked at Beth. “He serious?”

Beth shrugged. “I don’t know, I can’t tell.”

“You wanna end this?”

“This as in us? No!” Beth shook her head vigorously at Rio.

“You sure ‘bout that?”

“Yes! Of course I’m sure, about you and the job. The one I want to end things with is Dean.”

Rio laughed, licking his lower lip and he looked away from Beth.

“You know, people can be shitty when they’re hurt an’ they say things an’ do things to get a reaction. Hurt people don’t think things through, so maybe you gotta wait it out? Time passes an’ heals things. Situations change, people change. Your feelin’s for Dean changed as did mine with Marisol. He needs more time to adapt but you gotta trust your instincts cause as I said before, he ain’t trustworthy.”

Beth nodded. It was marginally annoying he was always right. Being an employee of his she could just think of him as being a self-assured prick though he had every right to be, but being his lover or girlfriend or whatever she was, she kind of had to appreciate his pearls of wisdom. And whilst he was advising caution about Dean, he was trying to reassure her that he felt nothing for his ex, that he had emotionally moved on. Beth smiled at Rio and he reached out his hand to her, stroking her cheek with his fingertips.

“Like I said to you, you gotta live in the now.”

“I know, it’s just, I’m just, this is all new to me so I’m not practised at it, at any of it.”

“I don’t want you to be practised, I want you to be honest.”

“You read me too easily, I’m so obviously an open book to you.”

“Nah, you’re not, I can’t read your mind but I got practise in readin’ people. Besides, I find your openness refreshing.”

Beth laughed at that. “Not unpractised and naive?”

“Nah, you’re just not tryin’ hide anything. Come ‘ere.” Rio gestured to his lap and Beth found herself automatically standing up and moving around to him, sitting where he commanded. He pulled her close to him, his arms wrapped around her and kissed her softly, tenderly, making Beth moan slightly into his mouth.

She pulled back, changing her position so she could straddle him, wrapping her arms around his sides, letting him kiss her deeply, feeling him lift his hips slightly so he could press himself against where she needed him. They stopped kissing for a moment, his hands on either side of her face, his dark, expressive eyes wide and staring deeply into hers, her pupils had widened with desire. Rio then licked Beth’s lips and slid his hands down her body as she stared at him in wonder, completely and utterly turned on by everything he did. 

He slipped his hands under her dress, hooking her panties to one side, giving her wet entrance a quick swipe with his fingertips to see if she was ready for him and then he pulled his shorts down slightly and lifted her onto him. 

She gasped, he did it all so swiftly that she hadn’t registered what he was doing until he was pushing inside her. She put her hands around the back of his neck and lifted herself slightly so that he could penetrate her fully, and then it was his turn to groan as her tight walls enveloped him greedily. They looked into each others eyes as they started to move, both completely clothed and yet he was completely sheathed inside her. 

“So you don’t mind alfresco after all?” His voice was a low growl.

Beth let him lead her with his hip thrusts. “Oh, I like this, I like it very much, but it’s for you and me only.”

“I know that baby, an’ no one can see what we’re doing, we got all our clothes on.”

Rio pushed Beth’s legs a little wider and changed the angle of hip lifts, so that his strokes inside her hit her right on her pleasure zone. Beth then had to cling onto his shoulders, unable to help but cry out.

“Oh my god!”

“Does that feel good, Elizabeth?” He caressed her breasts through her dress, feeling for her nipples which had hardened.

“Yes, god, yes.”

“Then tell me.”

“Oh fuck!” Beth gasped as a deep stroke hit her. “Words aren’t good enough, they can’t adequately describe,” Beth had to stop for a moment to moan, “what you do to me, what you’re doing to me.” 

Rio was not fairing much better, kissing her exposed neck and cleavage before he groaned. “An’ what am I doing to you Elizabeth?”

He took his hands off her breasts to pull on her hips, angling at her sweet spot again and Beth felt the tension inside her heighten, she was on the precipice, ready to explode. “You’re making me come, oh, god Rio, please, make me come.”

Rio kissed her deeply before drawling at her. “That’s all I wanna do these days.”

He stared into her eyes as he held her hips in place, stroking her a few more times where she needed him and she came as she rode him, moaning loudly, unashamedly, still dressed in her beautiful summer dress, in his rooftop garden, the moon and the stars shining down on them.

Beth fell into Rio then, resting her head on his shoulder as he let go of her hips so he could smooth her hair and her gently rub her back, leaving a trail of kisses on the side of her face. He let her come down from her high for a few minutes, holding her before he made her get up to walk back down into his apartment, and into his bedroom.

He then stripped her dress off her, kissing every inch of her skin that he exposed and she pulled his t-shirt and shorts off him, caressing the his honeyed skin under her hands before she reached for his hard cock, firmly stroking it. He let her tease him for a few minutes, enjoying the feel of her hands, before he pushed her back on the bed, sheathing himself inside her without ceremony again, lifting her ass up a little to angle his stokes so that he would made her come again and she did. 

Whilst still in an orgasm daze, he pulled her onto her knees, so they were both upright and facing his windows, Rio had already assured Beth weeks back that the lower panes all had treated glass in them so no one could see in. Rio pulled Beth’s ass back a little and held her hips in place as he took her from behind. 

Beth gasped at his entry and the pace of his thrusts and she took a couple of ragged breaths, before she looked up, seeing her reflection in his window, her body obscuring Rio’s frame, but his hands held firmly onto her hips, and his face was on full view. He was looking down at where they were joined, staring in such deep concentration, but he felt her gaze and looked up in the window, looking into her eyes. 

Beth took a breath, she saw the raw need in his eyes, saw his complete and total desire and hunger for her. She swallowed with the realisation of the held power over him. She was more than important to Rio, and she brought him to his knees.

Rio spoke to her in a strained voice. “Fuck, you’re so goddamn beautiful Elizabeth, you drive me fuckin’ crazy.”

Beth responded by squeezing her core muscles as tight as she could around his hard cock that was pounding mercilessly into her and Rio cried out, pumping her with a few more powerfully hard strokes until he came, explosively filling her with his hot come as they stared at each other in the reflection of his window. Rio then wrapped his arms around Beth, holding her tight to him. Beth placed her arms over his own, securing him close to her, letting him come down from his high. 

When he eventually moved to pull out of her, he pulled her down off her knees, onto the bed and into his arms, kissing her languidly.

“Elizabeth, what the fuck you doin’ to me?”

Beth stroked his face, gently. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I only know what you do to me.” 

Rio smiled at that and kissed her soft and deep, stoking her face gently before he closed his eyes needing to sleep. Beth copied him, closing her eyes, a huge smile on her face. 

They spent the whole of the Saturday morning in Rio’s bed making love before Beth got up as Rio snoozed again so she could make them breakfast. Rio then walked them to a food market in the early afternoon sun, and he bought ingredients for their evening meal as they had coffee and shared a cake, smiling at one another. 

He had to work a couple of hours in the afternoon but Beth was more than happy to read her book on his sunny terrace, relishing the gift of time alone, of feeling cared for and feeling so alive within her body from the orgasms she and Rio had shared. Before long Rio had called Beth down for a drink which led to getting naked on his couch and another drink as he fixed them dinner. 

Beth had asked him about the exhibition he was taking her to and he’d been his usual evasive self about it, but he did reveal that the artwork was actually photographs of the creations of his tattoo artist friend, Roberto, a man who was beyond talented and had travelled worldwide inking people. Beth asked if Rio had work done by him and he smirked, so Beth guessed yes. 

When she asked how many people would be there, Rio had said it was just a little affair but when they’d gotten out of Rio’s car and stepped up to the gallery, there was a throng of people both inside it and out on the street. Beth guessed at least 400 were there and she clutched tightly onto Rio’s hand not wanting to lose him. 

She looked at the crowd and swallowed, feeling out of place being the only non-tattooed and least cool person there.

“Rio!” She chastised. “You said it was a small crowd, I’m barely wearing make up and am flouncy when everyone else is in biker boots and leather.”

“Relax baby, most guys, including me, don’t like women in lots of make up, your dress looks amazing on your fuckin’ perfect body, your hairs all bed styled an’ you got what most of these people don’t have.”

“And what’s that?”

Rio grinned, not lowering his voice as he spoke. “You’re drippin’ in charm, charisma an’ a freshly fucked by me glow.”

Beth widened her eyes at Rio as so many people were in earshot and she blushed despite herself. 

They had gotten busy again after dinner, but that had left Beth just 10 minutes to get ready. She was still on her orgasm high, so couldn’t really think straight and Rio had helped her into her underwear and gave her the dress from Friday to put on, leaving her alone to hurriedly apply lipstick, eyeliner and mascara as he pulled on jeans and a tee, accessorising with his white gold chain and his wrist wraps. He’d then taken her hand and marched her from his apartment.

Still blushing, Beth followed Rio into the gallery, into the throng of people. Rio grabbed a drink for them each from the waiter who passed by and then people kept on approaching Rio, greeting him and looking at Beth curiously. Rio introduced them all to Beth, keeping her close, putting his arm around her waist, or leaving his hand on her lower back, both of which made Beth feel good. All of Rio’s acquaintances were warm and charming, more on the cool and edgy side of life but they were friendly to Beth, just as she was to them. 

After half an hour or so of not really looking at much of the photographs but saying hello to plenty of Rio's acquaintances, Beth spotted a familiar face and peeled away from Rio for a minute. 

“Hey there.”

Mr Cisco looked at her in surprise but he actually smiled. “Mrs Boland, good to see ya.”

“And it’s good to see you, really good.”

Mr Cisco raised an eyebrow at her which made Beth laugh. “I know, whoever thought we’d be saying that to each other? How are you doing?”

“Gettin’ there. Gonna be joining the new workplace inna week. Will bring ya a coffee in. Ya doin’ Monday, Tuesday ’n Friday?”

“Yes, and that’s super sweet, you don’t have to get me a coffee.”

“I wanna, I owe ya.”

Beth shook her head at him. “No, you don’t.”

Mr Cisco looked like he was about to say something else when Rio appeared and gave his boy a hug, gentle with the side that was still healing.

“You made it out bro.”

Mr Cisco slightly shrugged. “It ain’t everyday Roberto scores a gallery show. I saw ya picture, fierce man. Ya gotta buy it.”

Beth looked at Rio incredulously. “You’re in the exhibition?”

Mr Cisco looked at Beth like he used to, coldly, but softened his expression when he saw Rio cover Beth’s hand with his own.

“Maybe.” Rio gave Beth a mischievous smile.

Mr Cisco muttered something like ‘finally’ under his breath which Beth noted but Rio didn’t acknowledge, still focussing on her, until Mr Cisco cleared his throat, apologising but saying it was time for him to head off, his lift was waiting for him. He shook Rio’s and then Beth’s hands, smiling at her again and saying thanks, before walking out of the gallery. 

Rio took the opportunity to get Beth another drink from a passing waiter, before Beth dragged them around the whole gallery, staring at all the photographs until they found his. Beth froze when she saw it, and goosebumps covered her flesh.

It was beautiful. He was beautiful. Exactly as Mr Cisco had said, fierce but also beautiful.

It was a black and white side profile, Rio was undressed from the waist up and staring over his shoulder, into camera, his expression cold and challenging, daring the viewer to judge him. His hair was cropped, he had a few days worth of stubble and a more pronounced moustache, his toned and defined arm was up, the ink there on show but his hand out of shot resting on his other shoulder, so as to fully show the detailed design of the tattoos stretching around his left ribs and also showing off his lean, muscular frame and external obliques. Rio’s ever present gun could be seen against his hip, tucked into jeans waistband. 

His trademark eagle was only half on display, Beth guessed because the eagle had been done with an electronic needle, the tattoos on his sides had been done by Roberto using the ‘stick and poke’ method. Rio had told Beth it was more traditional way to tattoo, using just a sharp held hand tool and mostly dark ink and that because it was freehand, it leant itself to the more the intricate, tribal designs that Rio had come to prefer. 

But whatever method was used, the end result was that Rio was now a work of art. The photograph was stunning. Perhaps the best on display. Beth eyed the green sticker on the corner of it, it had already been sold.

“Oh my god.” She couldn’t help but whisper when she turned her attention back to the portrait, still staring at it, wide eyed.

“How many times you said that to me in the last 24 hours Mama?” 

Beth turned to glare at him but couldn’t help but smile. “You know I hadn’t said it, but I’ve thought that you’d make the best model, and this totally proves it. If you didn’t know it already, you are the finest man in this city, and in this country, and maybe even in this world.”

Rio looked at her, his eyes bright, amused and he bit his lips to stop himself from smiling at her. “Is that so?”

Beth nodded. “It is so. I don’t lie to you.”

“So you like the look o’me?”

“I like you, all of you, the soul inside this,” Beth stood in front of him and slipped her hands around his sides, so they rested on his back as she pressed her body, or mostly her breasts, against him, “rather incredible body of yours.” 

She leant her face into his, pausing just before their lips touched to whisper. “You’d be crazy not to know it already, but I think you’re the most attractive and magnetic man I have ever met.”

Their lips touched then and Rio wrapped his arms around her, pulling her even closer to him, opening his mouth and pressing hers open to quickly stroke his tongue against hers, teasing her before he pulled his lips back. 

“Magnetic, huh? I kinda guessed you’re into me, but I don’t mind hearin’ it.”

Beth laughed, stepping back from him when a couple peered closely at Rio and then at the photograph.

“I said it was you, it’s you in the picture isn’t it?” The woman’s voice was deep and rich and she smiled at Rio and then Beth.

“Yeh.” Rio quirked his eyebrows.

The man spoke then. “It’s a great composition man, where the shadow and lights hit you, and the actual artwork in the ink itself, it all juxtaposes with the way you’re looking at the camera. The title is just right, ‘We’re his prey.’, I totally love it man. I tried to buy it but it had already been sold.”

“I would have liked to buy it too.” Beth spoke softly and the woman laughed.

“You’ve got the real thing by your side. You don’t need the photograph.”

“I guess not.” Beth looked at Rio and they shared a smile, before Rio excused them both from the couple, not comfortable with the attention and having just seen Roberto through the crowd. 

As they made their way through the people, Beth’s hand firmly in his, she teased him, stretching up to whisper in his ear. “See I told you, it’s the best one here. Now, hurry up and introduce me to Roberto cause I want to head back to yours and take you in my mouth, okay?”

Rio stopped walking for a moment to look at her, not sure if she’d just said that and Beth swore she saw a slight tinge hit his cheeks, but he started walking again, pulling her hand, so she couldn't see his reaction, only before they could get any further a woman stepped in-front of them.

“Rio.” 

Her voice was slightly accented and raspy, her eyes had been heavily lined in black kohl that made them seem big, shiny and so dark. Her hair was long and wavy and had been dyed various pastel shades. Her skin was ultra smooth and warm toned, her cheeks were high and her lips were painted a glossy nude shade. Her face was devoid of tattoos but her neck, chest and slender exposed arms where covered in intricate designs in an array of colours. From what Beth could make out, both her arms seemed to have the major arcana of the tarot etched on them in-between an array of symbols.

“It’s been ages since we saw each other. I thought I might catch you here. How are you?”

“Good. An’ you?” Rio tone was totally neutral but he didn't offer the woman his hand, or kiss her cheek in greeting as he had with others, instead he held firmly onto Beth’s hand.

“I’m great, can’t you tell?” The woman looked beseechingly at him and pouted slightly.

It was then that Beth realised who the woman was.

“Yeh. Well, nice to see you, we gotta pay Roberto our respects.”

Undeterred she continued. “His portrait of you is the best here. I noticed that he added a little more to his design. It looks good on you, really good on you.”

Rio said nothing, not prepared to get into a discussion with her about his body or her prior knowledge of it with or without Beth at his side. 

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend, Rio?” 

Rio tilted his head to glimpse at Beth but before he could speak, the lady spoke, having turned her attention, copying Rio. “I’m Marisol, who are you?”

Beth met Rio’s eye, she couldn’t read his expression as he’d put his poker face on when Marisol appeared but he squeezed Beth’s fingers and she squeezed his back. She then looked at Marisol, putting her best ‘I’m friendly but don’t fuck with me’ smile on her face. 

“Hi Marisol, I’m Elizabeth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who is Marisol and what is she up to?... I'll post the next chapter in a few weeks!
> 
> Thank you for reading this, I hope you're enjoying it... I listened to this whilst writing it:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OApqWqSY9Kw
> 
> Oatmeal by Sudan Archives
> 
> x


	5. Kindling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooooo... Beth and Rio get closer but things are never going to be too easy with them...
> 
> (see the end of the chapter for notes)

He’d tried to talk to her on the drive back to his apartment but Beth had talked about Roberto instead who hadn’t been what Beth expected at all, and when Rio opened the door to his apartment, he’d started talking in that tone again, ready to go into one of his ‘this is how it is’ prep-talks but Beth hadn’t let him, she’d gone on her knees instead as soon as he’d shut his apartment door, unzipping his jeans and taking the longest time she had ever taken giving head. Every time he got close to coming she’d pull her mouth away from his cock, her hand firmly gripping the base as she sucked his balls or gave his thighs love bites as he begged her to finish him. 

When she finally let him come in her mouth he groaned her name out, holding her head in place so she couldn't pull away again and then he’d actually slipped to the floor, letting go of her so as to not pull her down with him. He’d shaken his head at her, unable to talk. She’d knelt by him for a little while, grinning, until he eventually put his arm out to her and she helped him to his feet, taking him to his bed, knowing after the amount of sex they’d had during the day, and the orgasm he’d just had, the only thing he needed now was sleep. She had managed to drain all the energy out of him and she knew it. 

But Beth couldn’t sleep, her brain was running a marathon. An hour or two passed as she lay still on her back beside him, looking out of the windows at the night sky, listening to his quiet but deep breathing and the occasional noise that came up from the street through the open top windows that brought in a gentle breeze. He was in a satisfied deep sleep, his breathing was regular, she could see his chest rise and fall in rhythm and his hand rested reassuring and heavy on her thigh.

She thought about Marisol. God, she was beautiful. Spanish, half Beth’s body size as well as a good ten years younger than her. And also very, very cool. She oozed it with her artfully mixed shades of unicorn hair, her effortlessly chic European uniform of black vest and skinny black jeans and the strange mix of tattoos that obviously meant something that Beth didn't understand. Marisol fitted in with the crowd whereas Beth was painfully different. 

Beth couldn’t help but wonder what must have Marisol thought of them? Rio had been her fiancé nine months ago and there he had been, standing in-front of her, holding a totally uncool and very curvy suburban mom’s hand? Marisol’s deep brown eyes hadn’t given much away.

After Beth had introduced herself, Marisol asked what she did and Beth managed an elusive, oh this and that, before asking sweetly what Marisol did? 

“I’m a tattoo artist. Did Rio not tell you? I’ve done a lot of work with him and on him.”

Hmmm, I bet you have, Beth thought. 

Rio squeezed Beth’s hand and spoke slowly. “Just one Marisol. I prefer the ol’ school style.”

“Oh, I know that Rio! And I trained in stick and poke now too, I branched out. You should come by the parlour, I’ve got some designs I know you’ll like. It's good to change things up. You taught me to do that in our years together. And you were right of course, it’s good to diversify. But then I guess there’s always a danger of over diversifying. Too much change in such a short period of time can make someone go off balance.” Marisol looked pointedly at Beth and though Beth felt the sting of Marisol’s meaning she didn't react.

Rio spoke, his tone neutral. “Truth an’ balance are key. Now, please excuse us, Roberto’s over there an’ we wanna congratulate him. Take care o’ yo’self.”

“You too Rio. And it was nice to meet you, um, Elizabeth?” 

Beth smiled and made eye contact with Marisol briefly as she passed her, letting Rio gently pull her away, letting him tug her closer to his side as he took long strides to Roberto. 

“We can talk later.” He spoke low so no one else could hear.

“There’s no need.” Beth’s tone was light and she meant what she said.

She had no legs to stand on when it came to exes. Her divorce from Dean hadn’t yet come through as Rio had already pointed out and Rio was being patient with her about that so she could hardly be weird about Rio’s ex. Besides, neither of them had actually stated what they were doing with each other. When Beth had mentioned meeting the kids he’d said yes, but there was no rush to do so, it was still fresh for them. Beth has been a little relieved as she needed to manage this slowly. The kids still wanted their Dad to move back in as that’s all they had known, but that was never going to happen.

And now as Beth lay wide awake next to sleeping Rio, in his bed, in his sheets that smelt of their sex, she wondered what they were doing? Perhaps it was better for them both this way, low key, especially at first, as they were basically fucking each other’s brains out, all those months of chemistry, tension, rage and desire finally having been allowed to release and explode between them. And from outset the sex was the best that she had ever had and she hoped that she wasn’t alone in feeling it. 

Beth still hadn’t told Annie or Ruby about her extra curricular activities with Rio, although she knew that they were both seriously suspicious that Beth was keeping something from them. They had both individually approached her, asking if she was using new make up, or had she changed her skincare routine? Annie had been blunt and asked what vibrator she’d invested in. Beth had laughed at that and brushed Annie off, whilst inwardly she was cackling away, because Rio’s stamina and energy was on a par with the vibrator she had bought after Emma, because she knew way back then that she and Dean weren’t going to be getting it on anytime soon, or ever again.

But now that Rio had just taken her out to an event with his friends and associates, introducing her to them all, and although he hadn’t said it, it felt clear that they were together, now it was surely time for Beth to return the favour, but when exactly? And how? She had to work it out. And how would she reveal her relationship to Dean, how would his wounded pride react?

Her brain whirred around like a merry-go-round with no solutions. When she finally closed her eyes, she wondered how long it would take to drift off but then she felt herself stirring in the warm morning light. She reached to Rio’s side of the bed and found it was empty. Sighing, she turned on her side, closing her eyes again but she smiled when she heard his footsteps padding through to the bedroom.

He climbed on to the bed and whispered at her. “Morning sleepy, time to wake up, I got you a treat.”

Beth opened an eye and looked at him. “Is it a hot, dark and in a mug kind of treat?”

Rio was sat in a towel, smiling his cheesiest grin as he brandished two coffee cups in his hands, making Beth laugh. “Two treats, the hot ones me an’ the dark ones from the coffee pot. Got you a pastry too, all after my 30 minute run.”

Beth scooted up the bed, trying and failing to pull the bed sheet with her as she leant back on the pillows and Rio passed her the coffee. “Wow, you’ve been busy, your day is kind of done already. How long have I been asleep?”

“Not long, I woke early, an’ don’t cover up Mama, you know I love seeing you like that imma bed.” Rio’s eyes roved down her exposed body and Beth felt the heat.

“Oh really?” She took a sip of her coffee. “And what else do you love?”

Rio smirked at her. “Making you come in my bed.”

Beth tilted her head to the side. “You do?” 

Rio moved his coffee to the bedside table, taking Beth’s off her and then he slowly and carefully pulled the sheet down entirely off her body, dropping his towel in the process. He leant over her, covering her body with his own, brushing his lips against hers before whispering. “Yeh, I do.”

He let his hands caress her hips as she moaned into his mouth, their tongues sliding against each other, tasting the coffee. She opened her legs as his pushed against hers, his pelvis pressing against her, just where she wanted him and she gasped, feeling his cock already hard for her just as she was wet for him. She slid her hands around his torso, tracing his tattooed ribs and back, pulling him tight against her. 

He moved his mouth away from hers, smiling at her, seeing the desire on her face, and he moved down her body, sloppily kissing her skin as he went until he was pressing his face in-between her legs, breathing in her scent, moaning about how ripe and ready she was for him before diving in, eating her out thoroughly, hungrily, making her hips gyrate as she came from the pressure of his tongue on her clit and his fingers inside her. He didn't give her much time to recover, crawling up her body to lie beside her, his grin wide as he pulled her on top of his cock, making her do the work as he enjoyed watching her, feeling her tits, licking and biting her nipples as she ground down on him, harder and faster then slowing things right down to luxuriate in the feeling of the hard, big, depth of his cock in her pussy, pressing on her sweet spot, only to speed back up, bringing them both to a deep and satisfying completion. 

They dozed for a little while, spent and basking in the morning heat, Rio lay across Beth, using her breasts as a pillow, one of his palms resting on her mound as his fingers covered her sensitive pussy, claiming ownership. His cell rang a couple of times and he eventually pulled Beth up with him, dragging her into the shower, massaging her shoulders under the hot water before she did the same to him. They dressed and he sat her at his breakfast bar in his kitchen, checking his voicemails whilst he warmed up their pastries, put a fresh pot of coffee on and made scrambled eggs. As he cooked, he casually spoke about Marisol. 

She had been an apprentice at another friends tattoo studio, her Dad was the right hand man of a crime family in Barcelona so she understood Rio’s lifestyle. They had their ups and downs, they tried living together but it got difficult, it just wasn't working. Marisol had said her visa was expiring and she couldn’t get a new one through her job, so Rio proposed. He figured it would either make them or finally break them, and when he found out her visa had actually been reissued and she had lied to get him to propose, he ended the relationship. 

“Sometimes things don’t work out an’ there ain’t no obvious reason to it to the outside world, but when respect has gone, trust has gone, an’ it’s over.”

Beth nodded. “You don’t have to tell me that, I own that shirt in every shade.”

Rio then walked around to Beth, standing in front of her, his long fingers stroked her face as he stared deeply into her eyes. “I ain’t gonna pull any of his shit sweetheart, I take care of my own.”

Beth nodded as they kissed slowly, gently caressing each others tongues before the kiss got deeper, their bodies pressing until Rio pulled back, sighing, taking Beth’s hand to run it over the large bulge in his shorts. 

“You trouble Mama. You know you gotta leave to get to your kiddies in 20.”

Beth smirked at him. “I know, I just have to handle this big thing here first.”

Rio sharply inhaled as Beth’s hand slipped under his shorts, gripping him firmly at the base with one hand as the other began to stroke him. He spoke shakily. “I ain’t got any complaints ‘bout that.”

 

****************************************

 

Fall came, bringing cooler weather, new school routines and after Beth had refused to quit the warehouse and changed the locks, a lawyers letter from Dean. He wanted joint custody, stating Beth was working with and sleeping with a known criminal, that her current position was a cover for money laundering and that Beth was a totally irresponsible parent for having a criminal as a lover.

Beth had been shocked when she read it, panicking, scared of losing the kids, not believing that Dean had done this to her, but then she felt a calm, deadly rage build inside her, the kind she had learnt from Rio. Not that she told Rio about the letter as Dean was hers to deal with. And so she did. 

Beth’s lawyer disputed all Dean’s claims, showing a job application (thanks to Al’s nephew who created fake applications and interview times for both her and Annie). The company itself was 100% legitimate and paid taxes, so there was no fall back on that and Rio, well, there were no convictions against him at all, he invested in and managed various businesses, so therefore he wasn’t a criminal. And as the CEO of a start-up company that Beth worked for, of course he had close dealings with her, just like the other warehouse staff.

Beth’s lawyer suggested the joint custody claim to be dropped and they stick with what they had originally agreed on, or Beth would be forced to make Dean's failings as a responsible parent public, like his infidelities, the near bankruptcy, and the cancer lie that would mean the Dr would be exposed and struck off. Dean signed the original divorce papers telling Beth he didn't know who she was anymore.

But Beth didn’t care, she was now a free woman. She considered celebrating by changing her name back to her maiden name, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to give up the name she shared with her kids just yet. So instead, she celebrated with the girls by taking the divorce day Friday afternoon off and having cocktails out in the city, staying out way to late and paying for their cabs home.

The next morning Rio surprised her by turning up on her doorstep and taking her on a trip across the border, legitimately for business purposes as Rio had a supplier meeting, but he booked them an overnight stay in a boutique spa hotel on the lake. He let Beth sleep her hangover off on the way there and he’d booked her in for a massage and facial whilst he used the gym and sauna. 

After that, they had heavily petted like teenagers in the outdoor spa pool until Rio couldn’t take anymore and dragged Beth inside to their Scandinavian style room, and made her come with his mouth as she straddled his face on the floor in front of the fire. When she’d come down from that, he pulled her to the floor and fucked her so hard and fast and then slowed right down, tantalisingly tracing her skin with his fingertips before he changed their position again and the pace again and again until she saw stars and cried out his name and after that she felt so spaced out she just about managed to clench her pussy walls and bring Rio to finish when she was on all fours for him.

They held hands on the drive back and the following week all Beth could do was smile at everyone and everything. Life finally felt 100% good. 

Beth was great at her job, managing to sell the materials the warehouse stored to a new hotel for their rooftop bar, a local restaurant and many individuals who used Al to design their kitchens and bathrooms for them. And behind the scenes Beth had learnt the logistics of the business, helping to plan border crossings, back checking people, learning how to read people in the way Rio did. 

The next big job they had on was getting four freight trucks across the boarder, all of them contained slate, marble and tiles, all of the materials were legitimate but some of the goods in the boxes were not. Like the gold bars under the morrocan floor tiles that had been ‘freed’ via blast force from a private vault and where going to be molten down and made into expensive pieces of jewellery and frames for artwork. Or the fake cash that lay stuffed in the lining of the cardboard boxes for all the tiles.

Ruby, whose debt to Rio had been slowly trickling back to him via information on some of his boys who had been arrested. She had also had to put a tiny pinhead microphone on Stan for a week so all the meetings he attended with Agent Turner were recorded when Rio felt the heat from the FBI again, but the recent debt repayment request was for her to find out who was on what shift in the areas of the city the trucks had to drive through. Beth had been tasked with finding a best route plan and then to file all the correct paperwork. 

The freight trucks travelled at night and crossed the border just fine, following the specified route to the city, but one of the cops on his usual shift called in sick and a greener cop took his place. She stopped one of the trucks, demanding to see inside and complained about the papers as the driver, a driver Rio had selected had messed up, having picked up the wrong ones. 

Beth and Al were in the office of Rio’s legitimate warehouse that night, waiting for the arrival of the goods, just as Annie was waiting in the other warehouse with the rest of the members of the team, ready to start sorting the fake cash. Rio was in the main warehouse too, checking the trucks that came in and the look on his face when he was told about the truck being stopped was chilling. 

Beth decided to take no chances, she printed off a set of papers and drove to where the truck was, apologising to the cop for the unsatisfactory paperwork and providing more. The cop was suspicious about why Beth had appeared but she explained they were a start up and this next job, the job she had secured, supplying to a hotel downtown was a huge for them, it was going to make or break her career, and as a freshly divorced and new to the workforce woman, she needed this job to work out. 

The cop saw the same greenness in Beth that she felt within herself and so she acquiesced and sent Beth and the truck on their way. Beth followed the truck to the warehouse, deep breathing to calm herself, to quell the feeling of nausea and the eerily strange feeling of deja-vu. Hadn’t this been the part, just those few months back, where she threw the keys at Rio and totally fucked things up?

Beth must have looked pale when she stepped out of her mom van and into the warehouse as Al walked up to her to give her a quick hug, telling her she’d done good. Rio appeared in the background with Clive, his suited and respectable business right hand man and he had looked at her, acknowledging her but nothing else. 

But Beth knew Rio well enough to read that he was pissed off but there was nothing she could do now, as they had to empty the trucks, put the raw materials in the places they were meant to be, store the gold in two different vaults hidden by the offices and then anyone left in the main warehouse was to be driven over with the fake cash in different cars to the other warehouse, so they could all start working on making the cash in strips into something that resembled real money. 

It was going to be a long night. 

And it was. Beth took a breather at 8am, there was only an hour or so more work to be done and she’d already had a hell of a lot of coffee, but she just wanted to get some sun on her face. She walked across to where the grass was, her face turned up sleepily to the morning sun as she stretched when she heard someone call her name.

Beth turned to where the voice came from and saw a slim lady step out of a black convertible. Beth was so tired she couldn't quite register how she knew her until the lady took her beanie hat off, letting her hair cascade down over her shoulders. Marisol. Of course she would turn up here on a random Saturday morning when they had been working all night and Beth no doubt looked a mess. At least this time her outfit of dark fitted jeans and an emerald green top was less flouncy.

“Marisol, what are you doing here?”

“I need to speak to Rio.” She looked upset.

Despite herself, Beth asked. “Are you okay?”

Marisol swallowed, Beth wasn’t the person she wanted to talk to but she couldn't help herself. “My dog died and Rio loved my dog so, so I just wanted to, to speak to him. Rio didn’t respond to my messages and I was chatting to Luna last night, the lady who runs the gallery where we met, and she said had bought a new kitchen from the warehouse so I went there and then, I kind of just drove to all the other places I knew he'd had.”

Beth tried to follow all Marisol was saying, focusing on key words, like Luna, messages, warehouse. She remembered Luna had been by Roberto’s side at the gallery and that Annie said she’d sold a dope kitchen to a lady called ‘the moon’. Beth had obviously been quiet too long, staring at Marisol blankly as Marisol suddenly burst into tears.

“Oh, God! I’m so stupid to have come here. So stupid. I did coke last night and Rio hated coke, and hated when I did it as I’d do pathetic things like this. I should have just waited to call my therapist. Please, please don’t tell him I came here. I’m not crazy, I promise, I’m just, I just, I just thought he’d come back to me. But I know that’s not going to happen. I’m sorry, I’ll go.”

Beth walked towards Marisol. “Hey, listen, there’s a coffee shop a five minute drive from here and I don’t know about you but I could really do with a coffee. Do you want to get one with me? If you’re okay to drive?”

Marisol looked at Beth and nodded, wiping the tears from her face. “Yeah, I’m okay to drive and yeah, I do.”

Beth got into her car and drove slow and steady to the coffee shop, waiting outside the front for Marisol who walked in with her. They both ordered their coffees from their booth and Marisol took a deep breath before speaking.

“I’m sorry, I’m not usually a crazy person, I just haven’t been dealing with things so well and Rio was my rock. I’m guess I’m not good things leaving me. My dog didn’t choose to die but Rio chose to leave me.” Marisol suddenly looked embarrased. “I can’t believe I’ve said all of this to you of all people! Rio was right, drugs make me stupid, I need to pull my shit together.”

“It makes sense to want to lean on someone familiar when you’re going through something tough.”

Marisol smiled sadly at that. “Thanks. I shouldn’t have driven over though. I saw the way he was with you in the gallery, and you know I moved on too, it’s just my romance ended cos the guy was so drama. He was too like me I guess. It was probably the universe paying me back my karma.”

Beth wasn’t quite sure what to say and she wasn't sure if Marisol was broken hearted or just on a confessional come down, and Beth was so very tired. “Don’t think like that. Things take what time they need to heal.”

“Where you with someone before Rio?”

Beth smiled, sipping her coffee before speaking. “Recently divorced.”

“Oh, shit. But hey, at least your guy loved you enough to marry you.” Marisol’s lips quivered.

“But not enough to make it work.”

Marisol was quiet for a minute, thinking about what Beth had said. “That’s his fault, not yours.”

“Maybe but if someone pulls away, then it’s not the right thing for either of you, and I don’t know who pulled away first in my marriage. But I’m happier now it’s over. I kind of ran everything on my own anyway.”

Marisol sipped her coffee, nodding at that. “Don’t most women?”

Beth smiled at that and decided to change the subject. “What was your dog called?”

Marisol smiled. “Pepe. He was the best. My baby before I have babies. The man who never complained and was always there.”

“The perfect one.”

“Exactly.” Marisol looked down at her coffee before looking up again. “Thank you.”

Beth shook her head. “I haven’t done anything.”

“No, you have. I can see what Rio see’s in you. You’re calm like him, you can convey so much with just your aura, and you’re kind. So thank you but just, just be aware, he likes being committed, but he’s like my Dad, I don’t know if he can settle. It’s the nature of his job, they can’t make a full commitment to anything, partner or child.”

Marisol took another sip of her coffee before standing. “But then I guess, maybe people can change, if we want to? Maybe? I’d better go, get home, organise my dogs funeral, and sort my shit out. Thank you.”

Beth stood up and Marisol smiled at her, then walked out of the coffee shop, leaving Beth to sit down and finish her coffee, thinking about Marisol, thinking about what it was to still want something from someone. And then she thought about Rio as maybe Marisol was right. Maybe he never would fully commit to anything. 

Beth swallowed, feeling the tiredness of being awake for over 27 hours hitting her and she sipped the rest of her coffee before walking out, back to her car and the warehouse, aware that she had been absent for too long. When she walked back into the warhouse, Clive walked up to her.

“Rio wants to speak to you in his office. Now.”

Beth looked at Clive with her wide eyes and said nothing. She knew he didn’t like her and he didn’t have to. She walked to Rio’s office, it was hidden slightly in a corner and had cameras in it that covered the back of the warehouse where the cash operation was winding down.

“Hey.” Beth stepped in, closing the door behind her, looking at Rio who was hunched over his desk looking at some papers in his hand. He looked up at her, he was tired, she could see it and his eyes relaxed for just a moment at the sight of her before they became hard.

“Where you bin?”

Beth blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Who were you jus' with?”

Beth swallowed. She suddenly felt that having a coffee with Marisol was not the right thing to do. “Your ex just turned up and was a little bit emotional so I...”

“So you went out with my ex during this operation, when I needed all hands on deck?”

“Yes, but it wasn't like...”

Rio interrupted her, not letting her finish her sentence. “So you’re all friendly now, discussing my business during my business hours?”

Beth opened her mouth to speak but Rio continued.

“An’ what the fuck was that with the cop an’ the truck? Your bitch gave me the wrong information.”

Beth shook her head and tried to interrupt him but Rio continued.

“An’ not only did we have the wrong information but you failed to pass the right papers onto my boy so you have to drive out to him to rescue him? What the fuck was that? You coulda led them right back to the operation when we were emptying the trucks with the gold and cash? What dumb shit was that?”

Beth swallowed. She hadn’t thought that she might lead the cops to the operation but then, if they had the warehouse destination from the paperwork, surely they would have been able to head there anyway? Besides, the driver had been given the right paperwork, he just hadn’t picked it up. And Beth had taken Marisol away so that Rio, who was busy enough, didn't have to deal with her because he had his hands full.

Beth looked at Rio, her eyes wide, she had done everything she could to help out, to make things go as smoothly as possible and yet he was trying to tear a strip out of her?

“Listen Elizabeth, you know I liked you but I ain’t got no time for stupidity, this is my business, a lot of people rely on me an’ I’m not going let someone fuck it up cos they can’t think properly. An’ you ain’t got no right to go out with my ex. That’s just weird shit right there. I took a lot on in takin’ you on with all your fuckin’ baggage an’ your bitches who can’t get their shit together despite my gift of opportunity to them. An’ you still hidin’ me from your other life, your regular life like I don’t mean nothin’. I’m so fuckin’ bored of this shit.”

Beth swallowed. “What do you mean by fucking baggage?” 

Rio leant back in his chair looking cooly at her. She knew what he meant. He meant her children. Her ex-husband. Her dog. The many mortgages which she was working to pay for. And ‘her bitches’, her sister and friend. Basically he meant her whole life. Her whole life was baggage to him. Fucking baggage. That he was bored of.

“So that’s what you think of me? A stupid, jealous, boring baggage ridden bitch, a charity case who is damaging your business?”

Rio’s eyes flickered momentarily, but he said nothing. 

A lump had risen in Beth’s throat but she knew tears had no effect on him and she wasn’t going to give the cold bastard the satisfaction of seeing how his words and attitude had affected her. She turned her back on him and walked out of the office. 

She walked back into the hub of the warehouse, where Annie was helping to fold up the large camping table she’d been working on the whole night. Beth stared at her, catching Annie’s eye for a moment, before turning on her heel and walking out of the warehouse. Annie knew that look, and hurriedly said goodbye to everyone grabbing her things and running to Beth’s car, climbing in. 

Beth already had the engine running, her face an impassive mask as she drove off without looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this - I hope you enjoyed it... also apologies for any non-spotted mistakes! 
> 
> I listened to this for the first 2/3rds:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFic-xaLsPs  
> Lianne la Havas - Unstoppable
> 
> And then this for the last section:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCEzdpQH-QM  
> Abi Ocia - Running


	6. Combustion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter, will Rio make amends? Can he make amends?  
> ...  
> Sorry if you've received an update notice- corrected a typo!

“Beth, what’s going on?” 

Annie asked after waiting for a couple of minutes, hoping that Beth would speak but she hadn’t.

Beth swallowed. “We’re both going back to mine as neither of us have our kids until tonight, and we’re going to finish my bottle of bourbon whilst we lie in my bed. And then I’m going to tell you what I haven’t been telling you over the past few months.”

It was then Annie’s turn to swallow. “Oh God Beth, I knew something weird had gone down! Ruby swore you’d done a shady deal with Rio. Tell me now as I can’t wait.”

Beth quickly looked at Annie. “It wasn’t a deal as such, I’ve just been really, really stupid.”

“We can fix whatever it is, I’m sure of it.”

Beth looked back at the road. “No, this is better left broken.” 

They drove the rest of the way home in silence, both beyond tired. Beth took a shower whilst Annie grabbed them chips and the bourbon. Beth then poured herself a double measure of liquid gold and lay back in her bed whilst Annie took a shower. They then both climbed under the covers and Beth told Annie everything. How she’d interrupted whatever scary gang stuff was going on between Rio and the rival group. How she’d driven them to the vets to fix up Mr Cisco and how Rio had kissed her there and later agreed the new terms of their debt repayment to him in her kitchen. About how he’d asked her to meet him at a bar after one of the last drop offs and then he’d taken her back to his, where he’d screwed her and how they hadn’t stopped screwing each other since then. Screwing sounded less intimate then making love, less harsh than fucking.

To Annie’s credit, she didn't freak out, perhaps as she was just too tired and felt mellow from Beth’s measures of bourbon, but she asked what had just happened in Rio’s office. And so Beth explained that Rio had basically told her she was stupid, jealous, baggage ridden and boring. At that point Beth could no longer be detached and she started crying, because saying that he was bored of her really cut had her to the core. 

It was what she had been scared of all this time. Because she was so ordinary, her life was so different in it’s normality compared to his. And Beth was in no way bored of Rio. Everything about Rio made Beth feel alive. The knowledge he had but didn’t show, the fact that he read so much, absorbing all the current affairs and finance dealings in the papers and that stored it all away ready to use at a later time, or that he was so savvy, that he could mostly read people and situations without any effort. That he’d started speaking to her about his business more and listened to her suggestions, that he trusted her judgement and made her feel that her opinions were not just valid but good. 

And then there were the little things, the absolute joy he got from eating new things, the way that he’d bite his bottom lip to try to stop smiling too much when he was with her in public, how even after a super sweaty run or gym session he smelt so freaking fine to her and the noises he’d make when he was kissing her or his cock was ball deep inside her...

Beth lay sobbing, seeing now how stupid she’d been. Of course he was bored of her. It had been a case of opposites attract but that had now run its course. Her life was too confined for him. He’d lost interest in her.

Annie however was enraged asking what the fuck did Rio know about any-fucking-thing? Being a crime lord didn’t mean he knew shit. Beth had fixed, no RESCUED Rio from two big fuck-up situations so the least he could do was treat her with respect. And only boring people labelled others as boring.

Annie’s rant had the effect of stopping Beth’s tears and she gulped a mouthful of bourbon before speaking. “But he was right about one thing, I did hide him from you.”

“Well, I’ll give the asshole that. Why didn’t you tell us?”

Beth’s tone was high pitched. “I didn’t know what to say! I mean, how was I supposed to get everyone together? He’s our boss and he’s not exactly been approachable to you guys, I mean Ruby’s constantly freaking out about what he wants her to do next. And how would I even introduce him to the kids? Dean’s already tried to sue me for joint custody because of Rio and that’s only when he knew I was working for him.”

“Fuck Dean. And it’d be easy with the kids, like, hey kids, this is Rio? They don’t need to know what’s going on between you just yet so, you know, just start small. They’ll think he’s cool, they won’t know he’s a crime lord.”

“Well, they won’t know anything at all now.”

Annie spoke softly. “Do you want it to be over?”

Beth closed her eyes then and swallowed as the tears starting falling down her cheeks again. No. No, she didn’t want it to be over but there was no going back from what he said, the way he had spoken to her. He had no respect for her, he didn't trust her and was angry at being hidden. It was over between them. 

And what the fuck would she do for money now? Dean sure as hell couldn’t pay to run his apartment and the house.

God, she had been a fool and as much as keeping her kids and her girls in the dark hadn’t been fair to either them or Rio, it had been the right thing to do, because how long did it take for the relationship, or whatever it had been, to reach it’s obvious conclusion. But man, oh, man, it hurt. How was it possible that everything actually hurt inside her, like she’d been hit by a truck? 

“Beth?”

Beth opened her eyes and looked at Annie. “No, I don’t want it to be over and that’s the worst part. I told him he was an idiot all those months back but all along I’ve been the idiot because I’ve worked so hard for nothing and I really do care about him, and he doesn’t feel anything for me.”

“Shit, Beth.” Annie pulled her into her arms. “You don’t know that, he just lost his temper that’s all, we’ve all been up all night, and a few things went wrong. He just, he just doesn’t know the full story.”

Beth shook her head, sobbing on Annie’s shoulder. “No Annie, Rio means what he says, everything he does is calculated. And the things he said about me, they were what he felt, so its over. And now not only have I got to deal with that, but I have to find a new job.”

“Maybe he didn’t put a filter on like he usually does because he likes you Beth? And you can do any job and you’ll ace it, but Al will be seriously pissed if you leave, you know he loves us right? I mean his boyfriend and friends hate reality TV, and we love it, so who else is he gonna talk to about his favourite shows to?”

Beth laughed through her tears at that. “He’ll get over it, eventually, but only if you stay. But you know the commission and cash cleaning side hustle where a serious perk, almost as enticing as Rio himself.”

Annie held Beth tight until Beth stopped sobbing, not letting her go until she fell into an exhausted slumber. When Beth’s breathing had regulated, Annie let Beth go and dozed off too. They both managed a few hours sleep, until Beth’s cell rang and they groggily got up to drink coffee and get their children.

Beth took care of her kids on auto-pilot the rest of the weekend, not sure on Sunday evening what to do about going to the warehouse the following morning, but the decision was made for her when Danny, who had been a classmates birthday party, threw up for three hours in the early hours of Monday. Beth managed to clean everything up and get the others off to school before she was called in to pick up Jane who was also being ill.

One by one her kids all went down with the bug and Beth took care of them all week on her own. Dean refused to have them and cancelled their weekend with him, saying he had important meetings during the next two weeks and he couldn’t risk catching their bug. Beth cursed him, especially when she got the bug herself, but she cooked for the kids and monitored their TV watching in-between throwing her guts up, getting by with the help of a grocery bag of essentials that appeared on her doorstep from Ruby who had been both shocked, mildly amused and weirdly not too surprised by Beth's affair confession. By the end of the week of illness Beth’s freezer was empty, the food cupboards were looking pretty bare, the house was a mess and she had lost a couple of pounds.

Beth managed to get all her kids out on the Monday but she drove home instead of heading to the warehouse. She couldn’t quite face it, she couldn’t chance seeing Rio just yet. She dropped Al another message, telling him she wasn’t quite virus free yet, he’d been kind to her the previous week and he said he was looking forward to seeing the following day, so Beth figured she still had a job for the moment. And Rio still owed her for her cut of the night at the warehouse, though she doubted he would pay her for that now. He had been so angry. 

She spent her Monday cleaning and tidying the house, doing endless loads of laundry, and grocery shopping before collecting the kids from school. She was so set on organising, distracting herself that didn’t bother to check her phone until after she’d put the kids in bed and then she saw she had two missed calls from Rio. Her stomach knotted at the sight of his name, both in longing and apprehension.

God, the week without hearing from him had been horrendous. No Rio appearing at her kitchen door, smirking, looking at her the way she was now used to, the way that made her heart expand. No sporadic calls throughout the day, or messages with pictures of his food or a track that her wanted her to listen to, no kisses, no soul warming hugs, no toe curling, body-blissing mind stilling orgasms, no heat from his body as he moved in her, on her, beside her, below her.

Yes, she had been occupied, yes she had been ill, but now her body felt like it was in serious withdrawal, she craved his touch, wanted to smell him, to taste his skin and feel his lips on hers more than anything else. But her heart been crushed and her head, her wise head, warned her to stay away. She was a mother of four, she wasn’t some footloose and fancy-free woman, she couldn’t risk letting him do anymore damage. She checked to see if he’d left a voice message and he hadn’t. 

She wasn’t sure what to do, part of her knew she should just call him back but then, he’d been silent for 10 days and he’d been the shit-head, not her. The contact had to come from him, not her. Beth went to her cupboard and pulled out the fresh bottle of bourbon she had bought that afternoon. Fuck him. If he wanted to speak to her he could call back. She poured herself a generous measure of golden amber and sipped some. 

In the week of illness, she had constantly thought about what he had said to her, how his face had been so cold, like ice, like the night where she had thrown the keys. Everything he said had been on repeat in her brain and she had concluded that he had been right about two things. 

It was weird of her to have gone for a coffee with Marisol, but the situation had called for it, she’d wanted to keep Marisol away from the business and Rio who was busy enough. If he’d been calm he would have let her speak and realised why she had done it. 

But he was right, she had kept him out of her normal life. 

She wanted to introduce him, but he was so relaxed about what they were doing together, never labelling things between, how could she have known that he wanted to be a part of her ‘boring’ normal life? And now as she took another sip of her bourbon, she thought she’d been right to keep him separate, because he’d gotten rid of her so easily. 

She thought about Rosario’s warning, that Rio couldn’t handle being in a relationship or ‘routine’ that didn’t allow him freedom and that was what had ended him and Marisol. Beth had taken that advice on board, not asking any questions, but Rosario was wrong, the lack of trust had ruined Rio and Marisol and so Rio pulled away. Just like he pulled away from Beth.

Beth had proved her loyalty to Rio again and again and yet that night he had turned on her so easily so she should never have trusted him. Perhaps it had all been revenge, all part of her debt repayment. Hurting her more than she had hurt him? She shook that thought out of her head. Rio had been her weakness, she wasn't his. His requests and faith in her made her do things she didn’t ever think she would and she had trusted him, she trusted his guidance and damn her, she still did. 

She downed what remained of her drink and poured herself a refill, missing her cell vibrating on silent on the couch. She turned off the lights and made her way back to the den, collapsing back down staring listlessly at the glow of the TV. Her cell buzzed again and she looked at it, seeing both the missed call and an SMS from Rio.

 

Rio: Seriously? Not heading to work today after a whole week off & not taking my calls?

 

Beth groaned, she didn't know what to say, so she put her cell down, trying to think of something witty or unaffected or casual, like he hadn’t just stamped all over her heart, but she just drew a blank. Her cell buzzed again.

 

Rio: We should talk & not at the warehouse, I’ll come over now.

 

Beth couldn’t ignore that. She looked a mess. A tired mess.

 

Beth: Don’t do that, I’m not ignoring you, I genuinely missed your calls. & I’m getting over a virus so am heading to bed now.

 

Rio called her then and she sighed. She took a sip of her drink before answering.

He didn’t wait for her to speak. “I’m outside.”

“What?”

“You bin ignorin’ me all week an’ we need to talk.”

“I haven’t been ignoring you. You haven’t been in touch.”

“Yeh, cos’ you bin ignorin’ me.”

“I’ve spent six days cleaning up after four kids who have mostly been vomiting and passing their bug onto me, so I’ve been busy. Besides, do you not remember all that you said to me?”

“Your front door is locked.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Then open it.”

“What? No, I’m, I’m in bed.”

“No, you ain’t, the TV’s on. I’m comin’ round the side.”

“Rio!”

He’d already hung up on her and she sighed, standing up feeling pissed off. How dare he just expect her to be okay with him coming around after he'd had torn her down both professionally and personally and then ignored her for over a week. And damn her heart for beating so fast and erratically and damn her stomach for the sudden butterflies.

She turned the lights back on and walked to the kitchen door slowly and saw him standing there, waiting for her, his face impassive, unreadable. He had his black hoodie on in his usual way and wore a button up underneath it. He looked so completely and utterly gorgeous that her body had a surge of serotonin, she just wanted to wrap herself around him. She swallowed that urge down as she unlocked the door, slowly, her eyes on his, neither of them giving anything away.

She pulled the door back and he walked in, like he always did, like he owned the place, heading to the kitchen island and leaning on it, looking at her. She walked to her glass cupboard and pulled one out, pouring him a measure of bourbon and pushing it across the island to him as he turned to face her, keeping the island between them. 

“So, how you bin?”

“I’m getting better.”

His eyes travelled quickly down her body but it felt like a perfunctory glance to Beth. “You lost weight?”

“Not really.”

He made a slight noise, a sigh and broke their eye contact to look at the island, he leant across it picking up the bourbon to take a sip. He put the glass down and looked back in Beth’s eyes. “I looked into what happened with the truck last week an’ turns out the driver didn’t pick up the right papers.”

Beth blinked but said nothing.

“So I was wrong. I shouldn’t have spoken to you till I knew the full story. An’ I know the usual cop was sick, these things happen, it weren’t Ruby’s error.”

Beth looked away from him. The air was heavy between them. She felt his eyes on her but refused to meet his gaze and they stood in silence for a long minute before he broke it.

“I don’t often do this, say if I was wrong, an’ for you this ain’t much but for me it’s, it’s...” 

He didn’t finish his sentence so Beth looked back at him. His eyes were unreadable but he was gripping the edge of the kitchen island so tight his knuckles were white.

She nodded then, acknowledging and therefore accepting his terrible apology for the truck and Ruby, but there was still the matter of everything else that he’d said. She didn’t know if she could speak to him about it right now. A lump had risen in her throat, maybe he’d had hurt her too much.

“How long have you known about the truck?”

Rio shrugged, a little uncomfortably. “A week.”

Beth snorted in disbelief and looked away from him. Cold bastard. He’d known she’d helped him and his business for a whole week and he’d kept quiet. Cold, cold bastard.

“I was waiting for you to come in but you didn’t show. Al said your kids were sick, so I gave you time cause I figured you needed it. I didn’t know what else to do cause you keep me outta your normal life. I didn’t know you’d bin sick too.”

Beth exploded, not paying attention to his gentle tone or the edge of remorse in his voice. “I do not keep you out of my life!”

“Yeh, you do.” Rio’s voice remained low.

Beth however shrieked at him. “Well, why would you be interested in my ‘normal’ life anyway, I bore you, right? My baggage, which means everything in my life bores you, remember? Your sister was right, you don’t like to be confined and the routines of my life are confining Rio.”

“Rosario said what?”

“You heard.”

Rio shook his head at her, now angry too but he kept his voice even. “Did you ask me?”

“What?”

“Did you ask me about bein’ in your life?”

Beth swallowed and she spoke more quietly. “No, I, no.”

“So ask me.”

Beth looked at him for a moment, the lump was back in her throat. “Do you want to be a part of my normal life?”

“Yeh, I do.”

Beth took a sharp breath in as Rio looked at her earnestly and openly, his face softer. Beth swallowed “So you want to hang with my kids and make cookies and drink wine with my basic bitches?”

“I love cookies an’ a good Rioja.”

“But Ruby and Annie can’t owe you anymore Rio, it’s too complicated to have them so scared of you, you have to clear their debt to you.”

He lifted his hands up, taking a breath before speaking. “Their debts are cleared.”

Beth opened her mouth and then closed it. Shit. 

Her brain went silent for a second as she realised what he was saying. He wanted to be a part of her life, all of her life. And she had just gotten Annie and her sacked.

“Do Annie and I get to keep our jobs?”

“Yeh, Al would be mad if either if you left. Besides, I want you on board, to help out behind the scenes. You’ve good instincts.” His eyes were boring into hers as he spoke.

Beth couldn’t help but smile a little at him then, at his praise, and emboldened she spoke softly. “I’m introducing a take-out Friday night with the kids when they’re with me, it started when we were sick last week. We had Chinese. I have the kids again this weekend and so on Friday I’m going to get pizza, pepperoni and margarita with some vegetable stick melody thing on the side. It’ll arrive about 6.30. Would you like to join us?”

Rio took a breath in and as he breathed out his whole posture softened. “Yeh, I would.”

“Okay and umm, on Sunday, after soccer practise, we’re going to have brunch at the diner with Annie and Ruby and their kids. Stan, Ruby’s husband, he’s on shift work, so he won’t be there but the rest of them will. We meet at 11.30, so if you’re free, I’d like it very much if you would come along too.”

Rio’s mouth twitched in a smile. “Count me in, I’ll be there.”

Beth couldn’t help but smile back but her eyes filled with tears. Rio moved around the island quickly and she was in his arms so suddenly, wrapping her own arms around the soft fabric of his hoodie, pulling him close, burying her face in the crook of his neck, letting her nostrils fill themselves with his scent. She let her tears fall and he held her tightly to him, one arm wrapped around her as his free hand stroked her head and neck.

Beth eventually pulled back to look at him, he wiped away the traces of her tears with his thumbs, his hands cupping her face and then gently, softly he leant in to kiss her, pressing his lips on hers, pulling back, staring into her eyes before kissing her again, opening her mouth so they could taste one another.

Beth pulled back a little. “I might make you sick.”

He shrugged. “I’ll risk it.”

“I didn’t mean to keep you separate Rio, I just didn’t think you were exactly into being a part of my day-to-day life, my normal Mom routine, and I didn’t know how to bring you into that without scaring you off.”

“Do you think I scare easily? I’m interested in you Elizabeth, an' that means I’m interested in everything in your life, soccer schedules an’ vomiting kids an’ all.”

Beth laughed. “I should have called you last week then.”

Rio then looked at Beth earnestly, his eyes staring deeply into hers. “Nah, you shouldn’t have called me. I was outta line wit’ you cause you’re under my skin an’ I couldn’t see straight. You didn’t deserve what I said to you.”

Beth looked down. “And I shouldn’t have taken Marisol for coffee, I should have let you deal with her, but you had enough on your plate. I only meant to help and if I’d thought about, I wouldn’t have done it because it kind of was a weird thing to do.”

Beth looked back up at Rio then, their apologies to each other made.

Rio shrugged at her. “I read all the messages she sent to me on the Sunday about her dog, figured she’d musta been on a comedown when you saw her. An’ the gallery sent the print of me in the week, with a note from her saying sorry for being off it an’ that you had bin really nice to her. I sent a thanks for the picture, but I don't keep in touch wit her.”

Beth looked at Rio incredulously. “She was the one who bought your picture?”

Rio smiled. “It’s mine now, you want it?”

Beth laughed. “I could put it in the den?”

“So I can look over you always?”

“That wouldn’t be so bad.”

Rio brushed her cheeks with his thumbs again and kissed her gently, before whispering. “No, it wouldn’t.”

Beth leant up to kiss him, opening his mouth with pressure from her own, pushing her tongue deep into his mouth, sliding it against his tongue as she pulled him close against her body, moaning as he backed her against the kitchen counter. He stopped them suddenly, pulling back so he could lock her kitchen door before he turned back to her, taking her hand and walking her into her bedroom, flicking the lights off as he went.

Once in her room, he left her standing by her bed as he turned on the bedside lamps, drew her curtains shut and disappeared into her bathroom, to start running a bath. Beth followed him to the bathroom, confused. “What are you doing?” 

He looked at her shrugging as he poured bubble bath under the running water. “Normal couple shit.”

Beth laughed despite herself and walked up to him, to put her arms around him again as he put the bottle back on the side. She had missed him. She had missed everything about him. He turned around then and kissed her, pausing only to strip an item of clothing off each of them between kisses until they were both naked. Rio kissed Beth slowly then, ending the kiss by licking her lips, before moving his lips and tongue slowly down her body, licking and kissing down her neck, biting her clavicle, kissing her chest, sucking her nipples into his mouth, sticking his wet tongue into her belly button, leaving love bites on her hips before settling on his knees. He opened her legs a little wider, making her gasp as his tongue glided back and forth over her wet entrance lips, before he moved his mouth over her clit and sucked and sucked and sucked, moving two fingers to slide over her entrance, slipping back and forth as he sucked her clit, until he eased his fingers inside her. 

Beth gasped for air, unable to stop moaning, unable to stop her hips from rocking against his face, her hands reaching for him, for his head so buried deep between her legs as the pressure from pleasure built inside and spread across her body as she came, moaning with sweet relief. He pushed his tongue inside her then, licking her orgasm wetness before he pulled back and she dropped to her knees too, beside him, to kiss him, to taste herself on his lips, to feel his arms around her.

He let her come down from her high for a few minutes before stopping the bath water. He then helped her to her feet, stepping in the warm water and pulling her in making her laugh. There wasn’t much space, with Beth being squeezed between his raised legs, her back leaning on his chest as they stroked each others skin in the warm bubbly water, they had to twist to kiss over Beth’s shoulders, kissing each others hands and finger tips, Rio caressing Beth’s breasts until his erection demanded attention that Beth couldn’t give from the confines of the bath space, so they climbed out, hastily drying one another before moving to her bed.

Rio sat on the beds edge and Beth moved towards him, eyeing the lean musculature of his body hungrily and she started to move to her knees but he shook his head patting his legs. She smiled at him, climbing onto his lap, feeling his hands slide over her ass as hers gripped on his shoulders. One of his hands smoothed up her back, pulling her to him.

“I’ve missed you.” He whispered before he kissed her, teasing the tip of her tongue with his own, lifting her off him slightly so as to line up with her before she lowered herself down onto him.

Beth gasped and Rio stilled for a moment before he moved his hips, eliciting a moan from Beth who kissed him and then they both started rocking, hips lifting and gently rotating, their bodies pressed against one another, heating up, their tongues moving in time with their thrusts, until Rio fisted a hand in Beth’s hair pulling her head back. He pulled her body off his so he could take a good look at her whilst they were joined together. Beth’s pupils heavily dilated as she tried to focus on him, her cheeks flushed, her lips swollen from their kisses, her breasts bouncing, her nipple tips pointing sharply.

Rio gasped, his voice hoarse, totally turned on by her, by what they were doing. “Fuck, you’re so fine, you have no idea.”

He pulled her face back to his to kiss before pulling away again. “I want to be in every part of your life woman.”

Beth wrapped her arms around his shoulders, spreading her legs a bit wider so as to angle Rio against the spot she needed him.

Rio continued, feeling her core tighten. “I want to be the first thing you thing you see in the morning and the last thing you see when you fall asleep at night.”

Beth began to moan, feeling him hitting that glorious place deep inside her, feeling the pressure build again, knowing that he could feel it too.

“I ain’t never wanted anyone like I want you or felt like I do about you. You make me lose my head.”

Beth was nearly there and as Rio sucked at the spot just below her ear, the spot that made her shudder, and it wasn't long before she came on him, her body shaking with her pleasure as Rio pulled back to watch her, to watch what he did to her. He slowed his thrusts down, letting her luxuriate in her orgasm, letting her feel all her feelings before he moved them back on her bed, laying her on her back. He lifted her legs up so the backs of her thighs were pressed against his stomach, letting him go deep inside her, and he pushed hard into her, going fast and deep and she gasped as he moaned, unable to stop himself from his own release, letting his seed explode deep inside Beth as he sighed loudly in agonised ecstasy.

He stayed where he was for a few minutes, until he gently moved, slipping out of her, and slowly lowering her legs down, he pulled the sheets up around them before curling his body around hers as he kissed her, too emotional and spent to speak and Beth luxuriated in the feel of their wetness between her legs again. They fell asleep against each other, sleeping deeply and contentedly until Beth’s alarm went off at 6.30am.

Beth groaned and turned to Rio. He smiled at her, stroking her face. “You beautiful.”

She grinned but shook her head at him and he frowned at her. “Yeh, you are.” 

“Rio! You need glasses.” 

“Nah, all I really need is what’s looking at me now.”

Beth smiled and kissed him, her heart feeling ready to burst. 

He quirked his eyebrow at her. “We ain’t got time to do anything now have we?” 

“Emma might be up already.” 

Rio nodded. “Then you’d better start your day Mama. I’ll come around at 10 tomorrow mornin’ though, to do what we can’t now.”

Beth laughed, nodding and kissed Rio again before pulling back, letting him get up. “Good. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Rio smirked as he went to the bathroom and he emerged two minutes later, with minty fresh breath from Beth's mouthwash and fully dressed, just as Beth had finished pulling on her pyjamas. Beth walked him to her French doors and they kissed again, before Rio opened the doors and stepped out, turning to look at her.

“Elizabeth.”

She smiled at him as she leant against the door frame, breathing in the cold morning air. “Rio.”

He took a step back, kissing her quickly and tweaking a nipple to make her squeal as he whispered. “I am sorry I was a dick to you that night an’ for the record, I am very much in love with you.” 

Beth gasped. “What...”

Rio looked at her mischievously and walked off quickly, taking large panther like strides. Beth closed the door as he disappeared from view, not quite sure what had happened. Had Rio actually just apologised and told her he loved her? She covered her mouth and laughed, not believing it, because that was not a Rio thing to do. She quickly headed to the den to find her cell, picking it up, firing a message to Rio.

 

Beth: Just for the record, I’m in love with you too.

 

Smiling to herself, Beth walked to the kitchen to start getting the kids breakfasts ready when there was a knock at her front door. She walked to it, opening it hesitantly, wondering who the hell would be calling way before 7am when she saw Rio, who was smirking at her, holding his cell in his hand, her message on show. He kissed her quickly. “So you love me too, thank fuck for that.”

Beth started laughing and he, still smirking, walked away, calling over his shoulder. “See you tomorrow, Elizabeth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taaa-daaaaa!
> 
> Thank you lovelies for reading this, hope its not too mushy an ending for ya, but you know, I wanted Beth to still be independent and working and the girls to not be indebted to Rio... I think Beth would be able to get Rio to agree to anything eventually! They just needed to talk a bit more.
> 
> And I listened to these tracks whilst writing this:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaDOz_XNW-0  
> Jade - Lolo Zouai & the wondrous Dev Hynes
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMpMLTpEXVk  
> Why don't you. - Cleo Sol cos the lyrics to this work for this
> 
> x

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't help myself write another but I will stop after this...  
> First chapter sets the scene with more tension and release to follow in the second! 
> 
> Thank you as always for reading & apologies for any errors - a couple always sneak by when editing your own work! 
> 
> Bring on S2! xXx
> 
> Oh, and here's what I listened to as I wrote it: 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUWid7BetA8  
> (incase youtube doesn't work: Seinabo Sey - I Owe You Nothing)
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUO5OD4wzmw  
> (MorMor - Waiting on the Warmth)


End file.
